Factors Affecting Maternal Mortality at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital Using the Audit Committee Report

Objective: The aim of the study aimed at identifying maternal mortality at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), using the audit committee report. Design: The study adopted a retrospective descriptive study by reviewing the folders of women who died in KATH using maternal mortality audit committee report. Settings: The study included all cases of maternal death audited by the KATH audit report committee between January and December 2017. Population: The study involved audited cases of maternal death at KATH. Main Outcome Measures: The main variables measured were demographics and characteristics of deceased women, the timing of onset of complications, place of death, antenatal clinic attendance, reported cause of death, service factors and individual factors identified by committees as having contributed to death, and recommendations made by audit committee. Results: 101 cases of maternal deaths were audited from January to December 2017. Out of these cases, deaths occurred mostly in the post-partum period. Fifty-three, representing 52.48% were due to direct causes, with post-partum hemorrhage as the leading cause (49.06%), followed by sepsis (28.3%) then amniotic fluid embolism (9.43%). Indirect causes reported were cardiovascular disease, hepatitis B and, anemia with a percentage of 37.5%, 14.58% and, 6.25% respectively. Conclusions: Accessing maternal death using an audit approach will help the teams in the hospital to identify the direct and indirect causes of death, and their contributing factors, and to make recommendations for actions that would reduce the risk of reoccurrence. KATH can balance maternal death audits with other strategies to inform corrective measures.