COVID-19: Maternal deaths in the tertiary health care center

Abstract

The maternal mortality rate is increasing due to associated complications of labor, the severity of infection, and co-morbidities. The impact of COVID-19 infection on pregnant women data is insufficient in the literature, so in the present study, we are evaluating the rate of maternal mortality due to COVID-19 infection in McGANN Teaching District Hospital a tertiary health care center.The objective: to evaluate the rate of maternal mortality due to COVID-19 infection.Materials and methods. This is a single-center retro-prospective study, which included all maternal mortalities with COVID-19 infection admitted to the department of obstetrics and gynecology, McGANN teaching district hospital a tertiary health care center from June 2020 to October 2021. COVID-19 infected 15 pregnant women who died during hospitalization, treatment, labor, and after labor due to various complications. Data were collected from the medical record section and presented in an excel sheet and analyzed using SPSS software.Results. In the study period, maternal mortality due to COVID-19 infection was found to be more in the less than 30 years age group (73.3 %). Nearly all cases were admitted with complaints of fever (40 %), cough (53.3 %), abdominal pain (13.3 %), and breathlessness (80 %). Out of 15 maternal deaths, most of the cases are found to be primiparous (46.7 %), and the time from delivery to a death varies from 1-14 days. Nearly 66.7 % of cases had a gestational period of fewer than 36 weeks. Pulse rate, respiration rate, inflammatory markers, prothrombin time, liver enzymes, and blood glucose levels were elevated. The total protein hemoglobin and oxygen saturation percentage declined in the cases. The known co-morbidity present in the cases associated with maternal mortality was hypertension (20 %), diabetic mellitus (13.3 %), valvular heart disease (6.7 %), and pre-eclampsia (6.7 %). The most cause of death was acute respiratory distress syndrome (80 %).Conclusions. In this study the severe infection with co-morbidities showed an increased risk of severe morbidity and mortality.