Mulheres negras e mortalidade materna no estado do Paraná, Brasil, de 1993 a 1998

A study of maternal mortality according to the race of women who lived in the state of Parana and died between 1993 and 1998 was undertaken on the basis of data obtained from the database of the State Committee for Maternal Mortality. The objective was to analyse the cases in the light of some particular socio-economic variables and to verify their correlation to race and basic cause of death, revealing specifically the situation of black women. The sample studied consisted of 956 women whose deaths occurred during the period mentioned, whose data were collected and recorded in a “Confidential Investigation of Maternal Death” file. The Epi-Info and Excel programs were used in the necessary analyses. The results show that the maternal mortality ratios in 1993 were 385.4; 342.3 and 51.6 per 100,000 live births for the yellow, black and white women respectively. The relative risk in 1993 was 7.4 for black women followed by the yellow with 5.0, and in 1997 it was 4.4 for black women and 3.4 for the yellow. Hypertension occurred in 77.8% of the yellow, 46.9% of the black and 31.2% of the white deaths. The conclusion is that intervention strategies for the prevention of pregnancy-related deaths must take into account both socioeconomic conditions and racial characteristics, and it is suggested that the Committee for Maternal Mortality studies the need for more complete personal data especially as regards colour and socio-economic situation.