Causes of Maternal Mortality in Iran: A Systematic Review

Background Maternal death is a key qualitative reliable index of a nation’s economic development. The present research aims to investigate causes of maternal mortality in Iran. Materials and Methods A systematic review of the following databases led us to find the target articles: Medline (via PubMed), Science Direct, CINAHL, CINAHL (EBSCO), Scopus, Web of Science, SID, ISC, Magiran, and Google Scholar. The key terms searched for were: pregnancy, childbirth, mother’s mortality, pregnancy side effects, Iran. The search was done in two languages, English and Persian. The operators used were AND, NOT, o‎r which led us to find related articles. Results A review of the 19 articles indicated that the main direct causes of mortality were respectively bleeding, eclampsia, sepsis and embolism. Among the indirect causes of mortality, background diseases ranked first and heart diseases ranked next. Overall, the foremost rate of mortality was induced by direct causes. Conclusion According to the present findings, a number of suggestions are made to help to significantly reduce the rate of pregnant women’s mortality in Iran: recognition of mothers at risk by the healthcare staff, preventive measures such as educating efficient and experienced forces, more equipment and facilities including blood products, monitoring care provision during pregnancy, during and after the childbirth, development of local healthcare centers and educating more midwives especially in rural areas, improvement of nursing hospitals in counties and timely referral of mothers to specialized centers.