TITLE:
Birth outcomes among laboring mothers in selected health facilities of North Wollo Zone, Northeast Ethiopia: A facility based cross-sectional study
AUTHORS:
Asmamaw Eshete, Dereje Birhanu, Belaynew Wassie
KEYWORDS:
Birth Outcome; Low Birth Weight; Laboring Mother; North Wollo; Ethiopia
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.5 No.7,
July
24,
2013
ABSTRACT: Background: Poor birth outcomes are common health
problems everywhere in the world. Hence institutional delivery in Ethiopia is
very low, improving birth outcomes through recent evidence
remained critical. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of poor birth outcomes and associated factors among
women who delivered in selected health facilities of North Wollo Zone. Methods: A facility based
cross-sectional survey was conducted on 295 laboring mothers from May to June
2009. Interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect the data.
Patient’s chart was reviewed to retrieve medical information. Anthropometry of
the neonate was taken by standard measurement tools. Data were analyzed using
statistical package for social sciences (SPSS), version 15. Binary logistic regression
analyses were used to identify predictors of poor birth outcomes. P-value ≤
0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: All the data resulted from 295 laboring mothers were made
part of the analyses. A total of 266 (90.2%) laboring mothers gave live birth.
A quarter, 68 (23.1%) of the laboring mothers had a poor birth outcome. The
common adverse outcomes were intrauterine fetal death (IUFD, preterm, and birth
defects with the proportion of 29 (42.6%), 22 (32.4%), and 3 (4.4%),
respectively). Mother whose husband’s occupation was merchant (AOR = 4.4, 95%
CI: 1.0-19.0), driver (AOR = 4.2, 95% CI: 1.12-15.76), & women who were illiterate
(AOR = 4.0, 95% CI: 1.2-13.5), primary school
completed (AOR = 4.3, 95% CI: 1.3-13.8), non-antenatal care visited (AOR = 3.4,
95% CI: 1.12-10.2), rural residence, (AOR = 2.6, 95% CI: 1.11-5.80), & mother’s
HIV status, (AOR = 34.2, 95% CL 5.6, 207.0) were independent predictors of poor
birth outcomes. Conclusions: Poor
birth outcomes were very common in the study area where low birth weight
accounted for much of all adverse pregnancy outcomes. Occupation, residence, antenatal
care visit, income, maternal education and HIV status were determinants of poor
birth outcomes. Accessing antenatal care in early trimester, mild physical
work, maternal education to secondary level and above should be encouraged.