the prevalence of pregnancy-associated deaths and related factors in pregnant women during the covid-19 pandemic in rasht, iran

Background :pregnant women are at an elevated risk for severe complications from covid-19, which may exacerbate pre-existing conditions and lead to adverse outcomes. objectives :given the occurrence of maternal mortality linked to pregnancy-related complications during the covid-19 pandemic, we undertook this study to examine the incidence of pregnancy-associated deaths and the contributing factors among pregnant women. methods :this cross-sectional study was conducted on the data of 10 deceased pregnant women who were referred to al-zahra hospital, rasht, iran, during the covid-19 pandemic. demographic and clinical data of patients were recorded. data were analyzed using spss software version 22, and a significance level was considered at < 0.05. results :the mean age of the deceased pregnant women was 29.30 ± 5.31 years. three patients were positive for covid-19, and eight individuals had underlying medical conditions, with all patients admitted to the intensive care unit (icu). the mean duration of hospitalization was 10.10 ± 5.68 days, and the mean gestational age was 31.60 ± 4 weeks. two individuals (20%) had a history of previous miscarriage, and eight patients (80%) had low socio-economic status. most deaths occurred during pregnancy or shortly after delivery, with pre-eclampsia complicated by covid-19 being the leading cause (40%). conclusions :our study indicated that women with pre-eclampsia were a vulnerable group at higher risk for severe covid-19 complications that resulted in death.