Modeling Stillbirth among Women Delivering at South west Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Stillbirth was defined as the birth of a baby with no signs of life at or after 28 weeks gestation. By 2015, there were 2.6 million stillbirths daily with more than 7178 mortalities globally. Majority of these deaths occurred in 60% of rural areas in developing countries. Three quarters of the stillbirths often occurred in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Ethiopia was one of the Sub- Saharan African countries with high occurrence of stillbirth and ranked seven in the top ten.

Aim: This study took the initiative to identify and investigate the associated factors of stillbirths among women delivering at South West Ethiopia.

Methodology: This retrospective cohort study was done based on data from five hospitals in South West Ethiopia (Shenen Gibe, Bedele, Tercha, Bonga and Mizan-Aman) conducted from January to December 2017. Inclusive were 1000 women from these hospitals who met the criteria. 200 women randomly selected from each hospital were interviewed for their background and reproductive health history. Descriptive statistics, Chi square test of association and binary logistic regression statistical techniques were performed for socio-demographic factors, obstetrics related factors, medical and birth outcome assessment.

Results: The descriptive analysis showed that the prevalence of still birth in south west Ethiopia was 11.7% and women who delivered at Shenene Gibe hospital were less likely to have a still birth compared to women who delivered at other hospitals. The findings of logistic regression also showed that place of residence, educational status, age at first marriage, family size, dietary counseling during pregnancy, gravidity, length of labor, bad obstetric history, pregnancy status, gestational age and weight of new born were a significant determinant factors of still birth in hospitals of south west Ethiopia.

Conclusion: Grouped as sociodemographic, obstetrics, medical history (Maternal diabetes mellitus, malaria, hypertension) and birth outcome related factors as well as living in rural areas was more Vulnerable. Most of those problems could be prevented if the causes and factors that are associated with the occurrence of stillbirth were systematically registered for management.

Recommendation: The government to give special attention to the existing rural health centers to improve their capacity for handling emergency obstetric care cases. Based on these findings, societal awareness should be improved on the risk of early marriage, unplanned and unwanted pregnancies.

 Key words: Still birth, Chi square test, Binary logistic regression, South West Ethiopia.