TITLE:
Maternal Mortality in Two Reference Hospitals in the City of Yaounde (Cameroon): Epidemiological, Clinical and Prognostic Aspects
AUTHORS:
Armand Kamga Talom, Florent Fouelifack Ymele, Edmond Mesumbe Nzene, Jeanne Fouedjio, Pascal Foumane
KEYWORDS:
Maternal Mortality, Tertiary Centers, Yaounde, Cameroon
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.11 No.5,
May
25,
2021
ABSTRACT: Objectives: The objective of this work was to determine the epidemiological,
clinical and prognostic aspects of maternal mortality (MM) in the city of
Yaounde. Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study with
retrospective data collection of maternal deaths according to the World Health
Organization (WHO) definition, from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2019, in
two tertiary centers of Yaounde: The Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric
Hospital (YGOPH) and the Yaounde Central Hospital (YCH). Results: During
the study period, 208 maternal deaths were identified, with 4/5 (78.4%) from
referred cases. The MM ratio was 1532.8 per 100,000 live births (LB) vs. 609.5
per 100,000 live births at YCH and YGOPH respectively. The Main causes where haemorrhage (49%) followed by hypertensive diseases and
their complications (21.2%), maternal mortality was associated with 50% of cases of foetal or
neonatal deaths (57.4% in YCH vs 28.3% in YGOPH, P Conclusion: Our study shows a large increase
in maternal mortality ratios in YCH and YGOPH maternities since 2017. The main
causes of MM found were haemorrhage followed by hypertensive diseases. These
causes can be prevented. Our health systems should be improved if we want to
significantly reduce the maternal mortality ratio.