A Case-Control Study on Risk Factors for Preterm Deliveries in a Secondary Care Hospital, Southern India

Abstract

Introduction. Preterm birth is the leading cause of newborn deaths and the second leading cause of death in children under five years old. Three-quarters of them could be saved with current, cost-effective interventions. The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors of preterm birth in a secondary care hospital in Southern India. Methods. In the case-control study, records of 153 antenatal women with preterm birth were included as cases. Age matched controls were women who had a live birth after 37 weeks of gestational age. Gestational age at delivery and associated risk factors were analyzed. Results. The preterm birth rate was 5.8%. Common risk factors associated with preterm birth were hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (21.4%), height <1.50 m (16.8%), premature rupture of membranes (17.5%), and fetal distress (14.9%). Mean birth weight for preterm babies was 2452 grams while the birth weight for term babies was 2978 grams. Conclusion. The commonest obstetrical risk factor for preterm birth was hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and nonobstetrical risk factor was height <1.50 m. The percentage of preterm birth was low, comparable to developing countries.

Prevalence of Preterm Birth and its Associated Factors among Mothers Delivered in Jimma University Specialized Teaching and Referral Hospital, Jimma Zone, Oromia Regional State, South West Ethiopia

“…Some studies have found hyper emesis to be a risk factor for preterm delivery [16,17]. However, in this study isn't significant risk factor for premature birth in women who suffered from hyper emesis gravid arum.…”

“…Of these 80.5% (1729/2149) delivered at term (37-41 weeks), 16.3% (351/2149) delivered preterm (37 weeks), and 3.2% (69/2149) delivered post term (41 weeks gestation), preterm birth rate of 11.1% occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa and Jimma 51% of these babies were born below 37 completed weeks of gestation. The low rate of preterm birth found in present study might reflect success of different programs introduced by federal Ministry of Health to improve health service quality delivered to pregnant women including pre-pregnancy and pregnancy health care in the last decade [1,3,13,16,17,21,22]. …”

“…Concerning in the mode of delivery, the greater part 30.5% (40) of deliveries were caesarean section, and were as 19.1% (17), spontaneous vaginal deliveries and 17.3% (13) mothers were had prime gravida and 30.3% (44) multi gravida respectively. Majority of mothers are multi para 38% (27) having greater than or equal to three pregnancy and 32.3% (21) birth interval greater than 3 years followed by between 1-3 years 27.7% (20).…”

“…Other important risk factors were hypertension that increased the risk of preterm birth. Hypertension increases resistance of uterine vessels and reduce utero placental fluid, which in turn causes intrauterine growth restriction [17]. Moreover, the high rate of disorders like placenta abruption and preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction among women with hypertension may results in surgical operations and preterm birth [15,16].…”

“…Currently it is the only teaching and referral hospital in the south-western part of the country, providing services for approximately 15000 inpatients, 160000 outpatient attendants, 11000 emergency cases, and 4500 deliveries in a year coming to the hospital from the catchment population of about 15 million people. It is a teaching hospital with a total capacity of about 450 beds [17][18][19][20][21].…”