PATTERNS OF MATERNAL MORTALITY AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS; A CASE-CONTROL STUDY AT PUBLIC HOSPITALS IN TIGRAY REGION, ETHIOPIA, 2012

Background: Maternal mortality is one of the indicators in the millennium development goal that is raising concern in achieving the set target of reducing the rate by three-fourth by 2015. Women who die due to pregnancy-related causes are in the prime of their lives and are responsible for the health and well-being of their families. Objective: To assess patterns of maternal mortality and associated factors: at public hospitals in Tigray region, Ethiopia, 2010-2012. Methods: A hospital based case control study was done from May 2012 to December 2012 at public hospitals found in Tigray regional state. Cases were mothes who died in hospital between July, 2010 to June, 2012 and controls were mothers who gave birth in the same hospital during same period. Simple random sampling method was used to select the case and controls. A ratio of four controls to one case was considered to assure sufficient sample size. Data were entered, cleared and analyzed using SPSS window 16. Bivariate analysis was used to determine an association between categorical variables and multiple logistic regressions was used to identify factors association with maternal deaths. Result: A total of 62 case and 248 controls were included in the study. The mean age of the study subjects were 28.1 (range18-46) years of cases and 26.8(rane17-42) years of controls respectively. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that Midwives were 89% times low risk for maternal mortality than Other Skill birth attendants [AOR= 0.11; 95% CI(0.03-0.42)]. Similarly those who received antenatal care [AOR= 0.26; 95% CI(0.12-0.57)] and women with length of labor less than 24 hours [AOR= 0.27,95% CI(0.07-0.89)] were less likely to die. Conclusion and recommendation: The finding of this study showed that maternal death was significantly associated with, antenatal care, Birth attended and prolonged labor. Therefore this finding suggests that women awareness on importance of ante natal care should be raised, consideration should be given on masters of emergency obstetric training and length of labor should be minimize by medical interventions.