Survey of Maternal Deaths in South Iran Analysis of 96 Autopsies

Summary Cases of maternal death on which autopsies were carried out during 1963–9 at Saadi Hospital of Pahlavi University have been reviewed. All deaths, regardless of the cause, in pregnant women at any period of gestation or within 90 days of termination of pregnancy were included in the study. The autopsy rate was 90 per cent. Seventy‐three per cent of the patients were from the surrounding district and 27 per cent from the urban area. None of the mothers had antenatal care. The cause of deaths was classified as direct obstetric in 46 per cent of cases, as indirect obstetric in 36 per cent and unrelated in 18 per cent. In all three groups, infection was the leading cause of death.