Incidence of Maternal "Near-Miss" Events in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Central Gujarat, India.

BACKGROUND Constant decline in maternal mortality ratio has given rise to the need of a new indicator. This search has motivated investigation of severe maternal morbidity-"maternal near-miss" (MNM) event. World Health Organization (WHO) defines MNM as "a woman who, being close to death, survives a complication that occurred during pregnancy, delivery or up to 42 days after the end of her pregnancy". METHODOLOGY A hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out at Sir Sayajirao General Hospital (SSGH), a tertiary care referral hospital in Vadodara, Central Gujarat, from May to September 2012. MNM events were identified according to either WHO or Mantel et al. criteria or both. RESULTS During study period, 1929 live births, 18 maternal deaths and 46 "near-miss" cases were recorded. Among these 46 near-miss cases, 57 near-miss events were identified. Calculated MNM ratio was 23.85/1000 live births, MNM rate was 20.6/1000 obstetric admissions, the ratio of maternal death to MNM event was 1:2.6, and overall Mortality index was 28.1 %. Among near-miss cases, percentage of preterm delivery was 42 % and stillbirth rate was 35 % (16/46). Out of 46 MNM, pregnancies were continued in 3 while 43 pregnancies were terminated. (25 live births, 16 stillbirths, 2 abortions). CONCLUSION Identification of preventable factors and special preventive actions should be taken for management of complications in such near-miss cases.