Abstract:
Birth injury including perinatal asphyxia is the most preventable cause of neonatal mortality and
morbidity in developing countries. Little can be done for a baby affected by birth injury
especially in severe perinatal asphyxia. Hence, full attention to reduce them to an absolute
minimum should nowadays be the golden standard.
Objectives: To assess magnitude of birth injury and its associated factors in Jimma University
Specialized Hospital.
Design: Cross sectional study was conducted at JUSH labour wards from April to May
2014.Data were collected using structured data collection format at postnatal ward.
The data analyzed using SPSS version 20 and frequency tables were constructed and association
of birth injury with different variables was checked with multivariate logistic regression analysis
Results: Among the study population 61% of the newborns were males. Birth injury was
diagnosed in 42(15.4%) of the newborns that can be sub-grouped to perinatal asphyxia 22(8.1%)
and mechanical birth trauma 22(8.1%). Two newborns sustained both types of injury. Scalp
injury was diagnosed in 63.6% of the newborns with birth trauma. Birth injury was associated
with place of residence, parity, fetal presentation, fetal position, fetal distress, route of delivery
(vaginal) and need of resuscitation.
Conclusion: The magnitude of birth injury is nearly comparable to the results found in most
other developing countries but significantly higher than those in developed countries. Place of
residence, parity, fetal presentation, fetal position, fetal distress; route of delivery and need of
resuscitation were found to be associated with birth injury.
