Perinatal mortality rate and associated factors among deliveries in shashemene referral hospital, oromia regional states, south Ethiopia.

Abstract

Background Perinatal mortality is a sensitive indicator of the quality of health care provided to pregnant women and their newborns. Although Perinatal mortality dramatically declined in developed countries, the progress has been slow in resource poor settings where 99% of the mortality is occurring and still births were not included in MDG’s. In resource limited countries like Ethiopia, where perinatal mortality is still significant and the extent hasn’t been well known b/c of low facility delivery and poor recording and under reporting. Method: Cross-sectional study was conducted in Shashemene Referral Hospital between February to August 2016. The data were collected from logbooks and client cards (maternal and neonatal cards) by using a structured data collection tool. Results A total of 380 cases was included in this analysis. The Perinatal mortality rate was 116 per 1000 total births, of which 86.4% were still births and 16.6% were early neonatal deaths. The proportion of hospital perinatal death was 27.3%. Of the Perinatal deaths, 79.6% of them occurred in mothers admitted with at least one obstetric and medical complication. Obstructed labor, antepartum hemorrhage and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy accounted for more than half of the Perinatal deaths. Lack of antenatal care follow up and labor duration of more than 24 hours, obstructed labor and pregnancy induced hypertension were found to be associated with perinatal mortality. Conclusion The Perinatal mortality rate observed was higher than other similar hospital based studies in the country and more than twofold of the national estimate of perinatal mortality. Preventable causes of Perinatal deaths like obstructed labor (which accounted for one third of the deaths), hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and antepartum hemorrhage caused more than half of the deaths. Lack of antenatal care follow up and labor duration of more than 24 hours, obstructed labor and pregnancy induced hypertension were found to have a statistically significant association with Perinatal mortality, which indicates poor utilization and/or provision of quality antepartum and intrapartal cares to the mothers which requires further investigation and effective intervention .