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Introduction: Due to its high frequency, maternal mortality remains a major public health problem, especially in developing countries. Therefore, it is important to establish the epidemiological and clinical profiles of women who died in order to adapt the means to fight maternal mortality. The objective was to study maternal deaths in three university associated hospitals in Benin from 2015 to 2020. Materials and methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional and retrospective study. Were included women who died during pregnancy or within the 42 days after delivery from January 2015 to September 2020 in the maternity units of National and University Associated Hospital-Hubert Koutoukou Maga (CNHU-HKM), University Associated Hospital of Mother and Child (CHU-MEL) and Army training hospital- University-associated hospital (HIA-CHU). Results: In total, 575 cases of maternal deaths were recorded and the majority at the maternity unit of CNHU-HKM (79.30%). The average age was 29.1 (±6.5) years with extremes of 14 and 45 years. The majority of death was observed in women aged 25 to 29 years. The deceased women were most often pauciparous (33.57%), referred (78.96%), admitted in poor general condition (58.43%) and were in the postpartum period (80.17%) at the time of death. The main causes of maternal death were: haemorrhage (32.87%), hypertensive disorders during pregnancy (22.22%), infections (8.35%) and abortion (5.74%). Conclusion: Maternal mortality remains high in our health facilities. It mainly affects populations with modest socio-economic conditions. The reduction of maternal mortality requires an improvement in the socio-economic conditions of the population, in the technical platform and in the referral modalities.

Introduction: Malaria during pregnancy is a major public health concern in most endemic areas, including Benin. To overcome this, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends several prevention strategies, including the administration of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) during pregnancy. Objective: To study the factors associated with low coverage of Intermittent Preventive Treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPT-SP) against Malaria in pregnant women at Dassa-Glazoue area hospital in 2020. Study Method: This was a descriptive, analytical study with retrospective data collection that took place from May 25 to September 25, 2020. Results: During our study, three hundred and forty (340) pregnant women were investigated. The mean age was 27.67±6.12 years. The pregnant women included in the study were traders/dealers (35%) with a primary level of education (35%) and living in a common-law relationship (77.65%). The prevalence of IPT-SP coverage in antenatal care (ANC) was 35.00%. The number of ANC (less than 4) attended by the pregnant women (p=0.00), the age of more than 3 months from pregnancy to the first ANC (p=0.00) and non-compliance with ANC (p=0.00) were the factors associated with this low coverage. Conclusion: ANC is a special time for the administration of SP. New strategies must be put into place for the correct use of this service by pregnant women.

Introduction: Most complications in pregnancy, delivery or post natal period are managed by obstetricians. However, some are admitted to intensive care units (ICU), for ressucitation. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological and clinical profils of patients admitted in the intensive care unit for serious obstetrical complications at the University Associated Hospital of Mother and Child (CHU-MEL). Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study with prospective data collection from October 1 to from October 1 to December 31, 2019. Were included pregnant and women delivered and within 42 days of the postpartum period admitted to the intensive unit care and presenting one of the criteria of severe maternal morbidity as defined by the EPIMOMS study. The analysis of the data was done with the STATA software. Results: The proportion of admissions to the intensive care unit was 15.44%. The patients were young (mean age 27 years), educated (76.19%), primigravida (39.05%), primiparous (38.1%) and without any particular history (85.71%). Most of them were referred from the peripheral health centers. The main reasons were complications of hypertension during pregnancy (53.33%), bleeding complications (42.86%) and infectious complications (7.62%). The most used products were antibiotics (92.38%), analgesics (89.52%), uterotonics (82.66%), anticoagulants (75.24%), magnesium sulfate (51.43%). Conclusion: Serious obstetrical complications are frequent. Their management needs an ICU well equipped especially in reference hospital. It is important that the references respect the norms to avoid that the patients arrive in a critical state.

Objective: Study the epidemiological and anatomopathological characteristics of breast tumors of young woman. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective and evaluative cross-sectional study of patients treated for a breast tumor between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2019 in two hospitals in Cotonou. All the complete files of patients under the age of 40 treated for breast tumors of whatever nature were listed. The patients were recalled for clinical and / or radiological evaluation. The epidemiological and histological characteristics of breast tumors were analyzed. Results: The study involved 231 breast tumors including 12 cancers (5.2%) and 219 benign tumors (94.8%). The mean age of the patients was 25.7 years±7.2. Self-examination was the most common discovery (81%). The average consultation time was 6.4 months. The right breast and the upper-external quadrant were the most affected in 53% and 31.1%, respectively. Fibroadenomas (70.7%) and invasive ductal carcinomas (9/12) were the most frequent. Obesity and a family history of breast cancer were associated with the occurrence of breast cancer in young women (p ≤ 5%). The relative risk of developing breast cancer was practically zero before the age of 30. Benign breast tumors spontaneously regressed in part or in whole in 35.3% of cases (n=55), they were stable in 44.8% of cases (n=70) and increased in volume in 19.8% of cases (n=31). The age of diagnosis strongly influenced the evolution of tumors in the young woman in Cotonou (p=0.02). In 56% of cases, breast tumors diagnosed before the age of 20 spontaneously resolved in part and in whole. The breast cancer case fatality in women under 40 was 11.1%. Conclusion: Breast tumors in young women are mostly benign. More than half of these tumors diagnosed before the age of 20 resolve spontaneously. The risk of breast cancer is virtually zero before the age of 30 in our series.

Objective: Study the fetal-maternal and neonantal prognosis of sickle cell pregnancies managed in Cotonou’s hospitals (R. Benin). Material and methods: This is a descriptive study on retrospective data from January 2008 to December 2018. The maternities of the Lagoon Mother and Child Hospital and University (CHU-MEL) center and of the CNHU/HKM gynecology and obstetrics university clinic had served as a framework. Complete patients records were analyzed. Included were pregnant women or delivered at 28 weeks of amenorrhea (AW) or beyond, sickle cell disease SS or SC confirmed by hemoglobin electrophoresis. Sociodemographic, clinical, therapeutic, and fetal-maternal and neonatal prognosis were analyzed. EPI DATA 3.1 and SPSS 2.0 software were used to analyze our data. The difference is significant for a p-value ≤ 5%. Ethical and professional standards and rules were respected. Results: The delivery of a patient suffering from sickle cell disease represented 0.82% of births. The SS phenotype was observed in 27.3% (n=105) versus 72.7% (n=279) of SC (p=0.000). A history of obstetric complications was noted in 56.8% (n=218). The course of the current pregnancy was marked by obstetric complications in 97.4% and the most important were: the threat of premature delivery (28%) and the vaso-occlusive crisis (19.5%). The caesarean was performed in 92% of sickle cell patients. Premature delivery was observed in 60% with 6.3% very premature (28-33AW). It was registered 91% (n=352) live births, 48% (n=169) hypotrophs, 60% premature, 1.1% (n=4) intrapartum deaths and 8% (n=4) intrapartum deaths and 8% (n=31) deaths in utero. Perinatal mortality represented 9%. The after-effects of childbirth were complicated in 12% (n=46). The puerperal infections (32.6%), hypertension (28.2%) and its complications and severe anemia (19.2%) were the most common complications. Five (5) maternal deaths were deplored, ie a mortality rate of 1420 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Conclusion: In Benin, pregnancy and delivery of sickle cell disease are at high risk of fetal, maternal and neonatal mortality. Caesarean section was almost routine in this group. The practice of transfusion exchange or bleeding may improve prognosis.