International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | May 2019 | Vol 7 | Issue 5 Page 1420 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Onyekwulu FA et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2019 May;7(5):1420-1424 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Original Research Article Trends of critical care management of obstetric patients in a tertiary hospital in sub-Saharan Africa Fidelis A. Onyekwulu 1 *, Tochukwu C. Okeke 2 INTRODUCTION Maternal morbidity and mortality are a topical issue world over and management of critically ill obstetric patients is very challenging to the critical care specialist as well as the obstetricians. The maternal mortality rate in sub-Saharan Africa in high compared to other regions of the world. The lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy is 1 in 16 in sub-Saharan Africa, as compared with 1 in 2800 in developed regions. 1 After two decades of the Safe Motherhood Initiative, meaningful reductions in maternal mortality and disability during pregnancy and childbirth in developing countries have not been realized. 2 This could be attributed to the level of poverty, lack of well equipped facility where adequate health care can be easily accessible. Also, the populace is not well informed on what to do about their health situations. Prevention of pregnancy related complications is the key to reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. Early presentation to a health facility and referral is paramount. When this is not the case, late presentation to a tertiary 1 Department of Anaesthesia, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku Ozalla, Enugu, Nigeria 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku Ozalla, Enugu, Nigeria Received: 30 January 2019 Accepted: 09 March 2019 *Correspondence: Dr. Fidelis A. Onyekwulu, E-mail: faonyekwulu@yahoo.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Background: The maternal mortality rate in sub-Saharan Africa is high compared to other regions of the world. Management of critically ill obstetric patients is very challenging. We therefore evaluate the trends, clinical characteristics and outcome of the obstetric patients admitted into the intensive care unit of a tertiary hospital in sub Saharan Africa. Methods: This was a 9- year retrospective study carried out at the multidisciplinary Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a University Teaching Hospital which serves as a referral centre for the south east region of the country. Data were collected from the patients’ record, ICU admission and discharge register. Also collected was data concerning labor ward admission and deliveries. Data was analyzed using SPSS Version 17 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: The total admission into the ICU during the study period was 1243 patients of which 73 (5.87%) were obstetric patients. They were between the ages of 17 and 54 years with mean of 32.05±5.96 years. The total number of deliveries within the period was 11224 (1247 per year). The commonest obstetric cases admitted into the ICU were (pre) eclampsia 28.8% followed by obstetric hemorrhage 24.7%. The overall mortality rate in this study was 39.7%. The commonest intervention carried out in the ICU was mechanical ventilation. Conclusions: The two leading indications for ICU admission and maternal mortality are (pre)eclampsia and obstetric hemorrhage. Keywords: Critical care, Intervention, Obstetric patients, Outcome DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20191627