Mortalidad materna en la Maternidad "Concepción Palacios": 2001 - 2008

objective: to determine the maternal mortality rate, causes, factors and suggestions for timely, quality care to woman. method: a retrospective, descriptive and analytical study of maternal deaths that occurred in the period from 2001 to 2008. setting: maternidad " concepcion palacios". caracas. results: 176 reported maternal deaths. the average maternal mortality rate was 159,78 per 100 000 live births. the prevailing direct causes represented by hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (39.20 %) mainly by severe preeclampsia (66.66 %), sepsis (19.31 %) and hemorrhage (16.47 %). the main indirect causes were inections (13.63 %), neoplastic and heart (2.27 %). seek prenatal care 50.56 %. they came from distrito capital (48.29 %) and miranda state (36.36 %) maternal age was predominant in the range 26 - 30 years (27.84 %) with ii or iv deads (37.5 %). the predominant form of termination of pregnancy was the cesarean section (48.86 %), the interval between admission and death was longer than 48 hours (51.70 %). conclusions: the average maternal mortality rate was 159.78 per 100 000 live births remained high, with prevalence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (39.20 %).