Profile of maternal and foetal complications during labour and delivery among women giving birth in hospitals in Matlab and Chandpur, Bangladesh

Fauzia Akhter Huda, Anisuddin Ahmed, Sushil Kanta Dasgupta, Musharrat Jahan, Jannatul Ferdous, Marge Koblinsky, Carine Ronsmans, Mahbub Elahi Chowdhury

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Worldwide, for an estimated 358,000 women, pregnancy and childbirth end in death and mourning, and beyond these maternal deaths, 9-10% of pregnant women or about 14 million women per year suffer from acute maternal complications. This paper documents the types and severity of maternal and foetal complications among women who gave birth in hospitals in Matlab and Chandpur, Bangladesh, during 2007-2008. The Community Health Research Workers (CHRWs) of the icddr,b service area in Matlab prospectively collected data for the study from 4,817 women on their places of delivery and pregnancy outcomes. Of them, 3,010 (62.5%) gave birth in different hospitals in Matlab and/or Chandpur and beyond. Review of hospital-records was attempted for 2,102 women who gave birth only in the Matlab Hospital of icddr,b and in other public and private hospitals in the Matlab and Chandpur area. Among those, 1,927 (91.7%) records were found and reviewed by a physician. By reviewing the hospital-records, 7.3% of the women (n=l,927) who gave birth in the local hospitals were diagnosed with a severe maternal complication, and 16.1% with a less-severe maternal complication. Abortion cases-either spontaneous or induced-were excluded from the analysis. Over 12% of all births were delivered by caesarean section (CS). For a substantial proportion (12.5%) of CS, no clear medical indication was recorded in the hospital-register. Twelve maternal deaths occurred during the study period; most (83%) of them had been in contact with a hospital before death. Recommendations include standardization of the hospital record-keeping system, proper monitoring of indications of CS, and introduction of maternal death audit for further improvement of the quality of care in public and private hospitals in rural Bangladesh.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)131-142
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Health, Population and Nutrition
Volume30
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Bangladesh
  • Caesarean section
  • Delivery
  • Foetal complications
  • Hospitals
  • Maternal complications
  • Maternal mortality
  • Perinatal mortality
  • Record-keeping

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Food Science
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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