MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY IN OBSTETRICAL RE FERRAL PATIENTS ADMITTED TOBOBO-DIOULASSO HOSPITAL, BURKINA-FASO

The obstetrical referral patients admitted tot he Sanon Souro hospital in Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) during 1991 were restrospectively re viewed. During the study period 741 women were admitted. The median di stance between the referring centre and Bobo-Dioulasso was 33 km. Medi an age was 22 years and median parity was 3. Indications for referral ware dominated by obstructed labour, haemorrhages and infections. The proportion of maternal mortality in the study was 5.4% and was not rel ated to maternal age or parity. However, there was a linear trend of i ncreasing mortality according to the distance between the referring ce ntre and Bobo-Dioulasso (X2 for trend: 7.56; p=0.006). The perinatal m ortality rate of 420 p. thousand was not related to maternal age, but a parity exceeding 4 was a risk factor for the occurrence of perinatal death (relative risk: 1.4; 95% C.I. : 1.2-1.7). As for maternal morta lity, there was a linear increase of perinatal mortality with the dist ance from the referring centre (X2 : 20.8; p=0.00001). There was no ma rked seasonal variation in the number of referrals nor in the mortalit y rates per month.