Maternal mortality due to hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium between 2012 and 2015 in Turkey: A nation-based study

Objective: To analyze maternal deaths in Turkey due to hypertensive disorders.

Material and methods: In this retrospective study 812 maternal deaths were analyzed. Maternal demographic features, presence of antenatal care, medical and obstetric history, mode of delivery, and use emergency antihypertensive therapy were recorded. The delay model for each case was investigated.

Results: Hypertensive disorders accounted for 15.5% (n=126) out of all maternal mortality. They were the third most frequent cause among all causes and the 2nd among direct causes of maternal deaths. Sixty-one (48.4%) cases were in severe preeclampsia or pre-existing hypertensive disorder with increased/superimposed proteinuria, 30.1% were in eclampsia, 9.5% cases were diagnosed as hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelet count syndrome, and 11.1% in pre-existing hypertension complicating pregnancy, childbirth, and puerperium without increased or superimposed proteinuria. The median age was 32 years, 37.3% women were ≥35 years. All deaths except for 2 cases occurred during the postpartum period. Twenty-three percent of deaths occurred in the first 48 hours postpartum, and 51.6% between 8-42 days. Intracranial hemorrhage was the major final cause of death with a rate of 41.3%. With the exception of fifteen patients with intracranial hemorrhage, emergency antihypertensive agents were not implemented in optimal dose and/or duration. A first and/or third delay was identified in 36.5% of cases.

Conclusion: Approximately one third of maternal death due to hypertensive disorders could be prevented. The importance of acute antihypertensive treatment should be emphasized because of most frequent cause of death was intracranial hemorrhage.