Outcome of Near Miss Cases in a Periurban Hospital

Abstract

A near miss or severe acute maternal morbidity (SAMM) means a woman (in pregnancy /labour/puerperium) who was almost dead but survived. It is often poor, socially excluded women that suffer most.The objective of this study was to explore the outcome of near miss cases admitted in the hospital along with their presentation, socio demographic characteristic and medical and surgical intervention needed. pregnant population, the "tip of ice berg" being maternal death and much hidden morbidity beneath the surface 2 .Definition of near miss or acute maternal morbidity cases varied among different studies. Three types of approaches have been proposed for defining life threatening obstetric complications and near miss events, those are based on management, clinical sign and symptom and organ systems respectively 2 . By Mental GD et el, a near miss describes a patient with acute organ system dysfunction, which if not treated appropriately, could result in death 3 . Prual A et el, has defined severe maternal morbidity as severe complications from 28 th weeks of gestation to 42 nd day postpartum that would have resulted in death of the mother or a definite invalidating sequels without medical intervention 4 . Some studies have used intensive care unit admission to define near miss morbidity 3 .In some studies management criteria was used in the definition of life threatening complications and that include the cases requiring use of emergency hysterectomy, caesarean section, hospitalization for more than four days and anesthetic accident 3,5.