Assessment of preterm Labor among delivered women in Salahuddin general hospital
Keywords:
Preterm birth Salahuddin general hospital, newbornsAbstract
Background:Preterm birth define as the birth of a fetus before 37 wks of pregnancy (which normally last from 37- 40 weeks). Preterm birth is a great problem. It occurs in any socio-economic level countries. It still the main cause of perinatal disease and death.. The aim of this study is to evaluate the frequency of preterm labor in Salahuddin general hospital.
Subjects and method:A descriptive cross sectional study involving delivered women in Salahuddin general hospital (n=151) was conducted during February 2018. Simple random sampling was used to choose the sample and self-administered questionnaire to gather information about socio-economic, demographic characteristics, health status and risk factor for preterm babies. Results: About 35 deliveries (23.18 %) were preterm deliveries. Among women with preterm delivery, about four women were below 18 years (44.4%) and one woman was above 35 years (6.7%). Concerning the spacing between the last pregnancy and the previous one, in about eight women with preterm delivery spacing was below 2 years and it was above 5 years in one woman. First pregnancy was reported in nine women with preterm delivery. Eleven preterm newborns were females (31.4%) and 24 were males (68.6%). In regard to health problems in preterm newborns, 13 newborns had respiratory problem (37%), 4 preterm newborns had poor feeding (11%), 3 newborns had cyanosis (9%), 2 newborns had jaundice (6%), 2 newborns (6%) had low APGAR score, and 11 (31%) were with no detected problem. In regard to birth weight, 18 preterm babies were with a birthweight <2500 grams. Conclusion: 1. About 23.18% of all deliveries in Salahuddin general hospital which were taken in the sample were preterm delivery.
2. Emergency Cesarean section delivery was the most common type of labour in preterm delivery compared with those with full term delivery where elective CS was more common.
3. Premature delivery is risk factor for low birth weight.
