Maternal mortality profile in Great ABC region from 1997 to 2005.

OBJECTIVE To analyze the maternal mortality in the ABC Region, comparing indicators from the Committee for the Study of Maternal Mortality in the Great ABC Region (CEMM) of the II Regional Health Center of Santo Andre (DIR II), and the State Data Analysis System Foundation (SEADE). METHODS This is a cross sectional study. The information was obtained from the database of CEMM DIR II - Santo André, which includes data from seven counties of the ABC Region. We analyzed all deaths of childbearing-age women that occurred from 1997 to 2005 in that region. The paired t test, Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS There were differences regarding the maternal mortality rates in the towns of Diadema, São Bernardo do Campo, Santo André and DIR II, with the coefficients calculated by CEMM being higher than those provided by the SEADE (p < 0.001). Concerning the towns of Mauá, Rio Grande da Serra, Ribeirão Pires and São Caetano do Sul, no significant differences were observed between these two coefficients (p ≥ 0.05), although the coefficients provided by CEMM were higher than the coefficients obtained from SEADE. CONCLUSION Our results demonstrate that the official data of maternal mortality in Brazil are still underestimated and point to the lack of healthcare quality during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum.