International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health | 2016 | Vol 5 | Issue 09 1851 Access this article online Website: http://www.ijmsph.com Quick Response Code: DOI: 10.5455/ijmsph.2016.10012016342 Research Article Study of maternal mortality in a tertiary care hospital in a district of Maharashtra Abhilasha Nair 1 , Mohan K Doibale 2 , Venkatesh V Gujrathi 1 , Ismail F Inamdar 1 , Amol D Shingare 1 , Pinkesh S Rajput 1 1 Department of Community Medicine, Dr Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College, Nanded, Maharashtra, India. 2 Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. Correspondence to: Abhilasha Nair, E-mail: drabhilashanair@gmail.com Received January 10, 2016. Accepted January 21, 2016 Background: Pregnancy, although being considered a physiological state, carries risk of serious maternal morbidity and at times death. This is due to various complications that may occur during pregnancy, labor, or thereafter. The major causes of maternal mortality are mostly preventable through regular antenatal checkup, proper diagnosis, and manage- ment of labor complications. Therefore, the factors at different levels affecting the use of these services need to be clearly understood. Objective: To assess the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and the causes of maternal mortality over a period of 3 years in a tertiary care hospital in Maharashtra. Materials and Methods: A hospital record-based study of maternal deaths over a period of 3 years from January 2012 to December 2014. The information regarding demographic profle and reproductive parameters were collected and results were analyzed using percentage and proportion with the help of Microsoft Excel 2007. Result: Average of MMR over 3 years study period (January 2012 to December 2014) was observed to be 410/1,00,000 live births. Most of the maternal deaths occurred in age group of 19-24 years (43.4%). Majority of maternal deaths was observed in multipara (52.2%) and women coming from rural area (52.9%). 44.9% of maternal deaths occurred within 24 h of admission. Hemorrhage was the leading direct cause of maternal deaths (33.8%) followed by eclampsia (10.3%) and sepsis (8.1%). Among indirect causes of maternal deaths anemia (14.7%) was the leading cause. Conclusion: MMR in our study was very high as compared to national average of 167/1,00,000 live births, being a tertiary care hospital as most of the patients were referred from peripheral centers. Most maternal deaths are preventable by intensive health education, basic obstetric care for all, strengthening referral and communication system and emphasizing on overall safe motherhood. KEYWORDS: Maternal mortality ratio, maternal mortality, postpartum hemorrhage, anemia Abstract International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health Online 2016. © 2016 Abhilasha Nair. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license. of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration or site of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy, but not from accidental or incidental causes. [1] Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) is defned internationally as the maternal mortality rate per 1 lakh live births. Maternal mortality remains one of the most daunting public health problems in India. Even today 20% global maternal deaths occur in India. [2] MMR for India was 301 per 100,000 live births by Sample Registration Survey (SRS) 2003 estimate and came down to 167 by SRS survey 2013 estimate. [3] Maternal mortality is ascribed usually to complications that generally occur during or around labor and cannot be accu- rately predicted. The direct causes of maternal mortality, that is, hemorrhage, unsafe abortion, eclampsia, obstructed labor, Introduction Maternal mortality is defned as the death of any woman while being pregnant or within 42 completed days of termination