Prevalence and maternal socio-demographic factors associated with stillbirth in health facilities in Anambra, South-East Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Stillbirth is a major adverse perinatal outcome especially in low and middle income countries across the globe. Certain factors relating to mothers from such countries may be associated with this adverse condition.Objectives: To determine the prevalence of stillbirth and also explore the maternal socio-demographic factors associated with stillbirth among mothers in rural communities in Anambra Central Senatorial District of Anambra State Nigeria who gave birth between January 2012 and December 2016.Methods: All case files of mothers who were delivered of their babies were accessed at the sampled health facilities in the district. Data were collected using a structured proforma. A total of 313 stillbirth cases were recorded across the health facilities from 2012-2016.Results: The highest prevalence of stillbirth was recorded in 2012 (38.07 per 1,000 total births). The prevalence of stillbirth was significantly associated with the maternal level of education, occupation, age and type of health facility the mother utilized (p<0.05).Conclusions: We recommend that women empowerment should be a priority at both family and community levels to enable women to seek and obtain necessary care during pregnancy and delivery.Keywords: Stillbirth; mothers; prevalence; health facilities.

Still birth in a tertiary health facility in Enugu state South-East Nigeria: a hidden tragedy

“…A similar study corroborated our findings. 17 Other studies however, contradicts the findings of our study reporting that still birth was higher among less educated women. 18,23,25,26 Other studies have also shown that stillbirth was higher in women with no formal education with the rate of stillbirth decreasing with increasing educational status.…”

“…23 Other studies contradict this finding and reported that unemployed women had higher prevalence of still birth. 17,24 Our study found out that the rate of still birth was more among women with secondary education compared to women with primary education. This was surprising as higher educational level was supposed to be protective of still birth as better educated women are better equipped to take care of themselves during pregnancy.…”

“…This prevalence is also higher than the report of another Nigerian study conducted among women that delivered at the primary and secondary health facilities, but lower than the report of a similar study in Nepal. 17,18 The differences here, may be due to differences in antenatal services at the health facilities studied and the availability and accessibility of health care in these localities.…”

“…22 Also most single mothers are at the extreme of maternal age (≤20 years) which is also a risk factor for still birth. 17 Employment status of the mother was not significantly associated with still birth but employed women had a higher prevalence of still birth when compared to the unemployed. This may be explained by the kind of work these mothers engaged in, as occupations that involves long standing and working in extremely hot environments have been shown to result in adverse pregnancy outcomes including still birth.…”

“…This was similar to what was reported in a multi facility study in Nigeria where the prevalence of still birth was found to be higher at extremes of maternal reproductive ages. 17 This was not surprising as pregnancies occurring at extremes of female reproductive ages are high-risk pregnancies for both mothers and new-borns. Furthermore, older women have had more pregnancies with each having its own risk.…”