Investigation and comparison of the factors associated with maternal death between verbal autopsy and forensic autopsy from 2001 to 2013 in Kurdistan province

Reduction of maternal deaths due to pregnancy and childbirth complications is one of the most important health indices and priorities for communities. Despite efforts in this context, maternal death rate is still high in developing countries. This study was aimed to assess the factors affecting maternal mortality and compare them by using the results of verbal autopsy and forensic autopsy. This was a descriptive analytical study. The study population was all pregnant women who had died between 2001 and 2013 in Kurdistan province. To collect data we used a checklist which was designed based on the documents obtained from maternal mortality surveillance system. The collected data were entered into SPSS V.16 software. Fisher and chi-square tests were used for data analysis. During the study period, we detected 79 maternal deaths. The top three causes of death based on the results of verbal autopsy were bleeding (34.2%), embolism (22.8%), and eclampsia (19%). 48.1% of the cases underwent forensic autopsy. Based on the results of forensic autopsy, the three causes of death were bleeding (16.5%), eclampsia (6.3%) and embolism (10.10%). The kappa coefficient for agreement between the two autopsies was 0.528. In addition to interventions and decisions on the basis of clear results of legal medicine, identification of the major causes of maternal death and their underlying risk factors recorded in maternal death surveillance system, can lead to decreased maternal morbidity and mortality.