Severe Maternal Morbidity in Patients of a Maternal and Child Hospital in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

Severe maternal morbidity is as a serious complication that occurs during pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium that puts the woman's life at risk or requires immediate attention in order to avoid death. This entity represents a public health problem and responsible factor for maternal mortality. We conducted a cross-section descriptive study from retrospective and indirect information compilation from San Lorenzo de Los Mina Hospital, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic with the purpose of interpreting risk factors that lead to maternal near miss event (NME) cases from January to December 2016 according to sociodemographic and gynecological characteristics. The study population consisted of 221 pregnant women of whom only 113 met the specific inclusion criteria used in this study. The main cause of severe maternal morbidity in this study were hypertensive disorders. The majority of cases had pre-eclampsia, eclampsia was in second place and HELLP Syndrome in third place. The average age of the patients was 26.64 years and median age 27 years. The age group over 35 years had the highest incidence. The highest percentage of complications occurred during the third trimester of pregnancy with cesarean section completion with 71 cases. There were 11 deaths (9.73%) of the cases of severe maternal morbidity.