This was a retrospective review of all cases of peripartum obstetric hysterectomy performed at the Istanbul Bakirkoy Women and Children's Teaching Hospital in the period between January 2001 and September 2008. We included any women who required emergency hysterectomy to control major postpartum haemorrhage after delivery. During the study period, there were 91 cases of peripartum hysterectomy. Two controls per case were randomly selected from the remaining births by using the random table. The incidence of emergency peripartum hysterectomy was 0.67 in 1,000 deliveries. The main indication for emergency hysterectomy was uterine atony in 52 cases (57.1%). The most independent risk factors for emergency hysterectomy were multiparity (odds ratios (OR) 17.3, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 8.7-34.6); caesarean delivery in index delivery (OR 6.7, 95% CI 3.8-11.9) and caesarean section for placental abruption (OR 3.8, 95% CI 0.4-33.4). Our study suggests that multiparity, primary or repeat caesarean deliveries for placental abruption are independently associated risks for peripartum hysterectomy and uterine atony is the still most common indication for peripartum hysterectomy in Turkey.