High incidence of obstetric complications in Kassala Hospital, Eastern Sudan

J Obstet Gynaecol. 2012 Feb;32(2):148-9. doi: 10.3109/01443615.2011.637140.

Abstract

Medical files of women delivered at Kassala Hospital, Eastern Sudan in the period of January-December 2009 were reviewed retrospectively. Out of 4,689 delivered women, 14.7% were teenagers, 67.1% had no antenatal care and 12.6% were grandmultiparous. Obstetric complications included: pre-term birth (2.6%); pre-eclampsia/eclampsia (4.2%); haemorrhage (2.9%); malpresentation (5.5%); obstructed labour (1.9%) and ruptured uterus (0.6%). Caesarean delivery rate was 31.1%. While 89.4% of the newborn babies were taken home, 6% were admitted to the nursery, 4.4% were stillbirths, and 0.2% immediate neonatal deaths. There were 26 maternal deaths (550 per 100,000 live births), mainly due to septicaemia (38.4%), haemorrhage (19.2%), embolism (15.3%) and malaria (11.5%). Thus, there is a high frequency of maternal morbidities and mortality which needs improvement in obstetric care. It is important to make visits from a tertiary hospital to the region to collect statistics and discuss management of the problems they reveal, with the local staff.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Infant, Newborn, Diseases / epidemiology
  • Maternal Mortality
  • Obstetric Labor Complications / epidemiology*
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Complications / epidemiology
  • Sudan / epidemiology
  • Young Adult