Introduction: in Ethiopia, 20,000 women die each year from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth with much more maternal morbidity occurring for each maternal death. Good knowledge of women related with direct causes of maternal mortality is important in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess knowledge of direct obstetric causes of maternal mortality and associated factors among reproductive age of women in Aneded woreda, Northwest Ethiopia.

Methods: a community-based cross-sectional study was conducted using multi-stage sampling followed by simple random sampling technique. The study was conducted in Aneded woreda, Northwest Ethiopia. A total of 844 reproductive age women were included in the study. Pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews by 12 data collectors. Data was cleaned, coded and entered into Epi-data, then exported and analyzed using SPSS software. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis were computed to identify factors related to knowledge of obstetric causes of maternal mortality. The crude and adjusted odds ratios together with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed. A P-value less than 0.05 was used to declare statistical significance.

Results: this study found that almost half (49.6%) of respondents have good knowledge level towards obstetric causes of maternal mortality. Significant variables associated with knowledge towards obstetric causes of maternal mortality were; being government employee (AOR=3.6, 95% CI=1.4-8.9), respondents who had additional monthly income from family members (AOR=1.54, 95% CI=1.04-2.27), respondents who attended primary school and above (AOR=1.6, 95% CI=1.13-2.25), distance of health facility in which the time it took less than 20 minutes (AOR=2.25, 95% CI(1.24-4.09), 20-39minutes (AOR=3.06, 95% CI=1.66-5.64), 40-60 minutes (AOR=2.38, 95% CI=1.52-5.26), and previous history of prolonged labor (AOR=1.4, 95% CI=1.04 -2.03) were the significant variables.

Conclusion: this study indicated that the reproductive age women in the study area had poor knowledge towards about obstetric causes of maternal mortality. Therefore, to improve maternal knowledge and thereby reduce maternal death, the identified significant factors should be addressed through maternal and child health services. Designing appropriate strategies including the provision of targeted information, education, and communication is important.