INCIDANCE AND RISK FACTOR FOR PRETERM LABOUR IN AL-BATOOL TEACHING HOSPITAL

Background: The incidence of preterm birth (PTB) continues to rise world-wide. Preterm labour is a multifactorial condition associated with a high risk of neonatal morbidity and mortality, especially at lower gestational ages. Three main conditions explain preterm birth: medically indicated (iatrogenic) preterm birth, preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) and spontaneous (idiopathic) preterm birth.Despite being retrospective, a classification according to gestational age at birth is important for neonatal prognosis. Preterm birth is stratified into mild preterm (32?36 weeks), very preterm (28?31 weeks) and extremely preterm (<28 weeks) with increasing neonatal mortality and morbidity. Recent studies suggested that infection was mostly responsible for extreme preterm birth, while stress and lifestyle accounted for mild preterm birth, and a mixture of both conditions contributed to very preterm birth. It is important to find the causes and risk factors of PTB to treat them adequately for preventing the recurrence. UTI and anemia were the most frequent risk factors Objective: To assess the incidence and risk factors of PTB. Patients and method: A total of 50 consecutive inpatient aged 16 to 45 years with PTB. A simply designed questionnaire was used, which contain information about risk factors which is taken from patients during a period from 15th of October 2016 ? 15th of January 2017 Result: Approximately 4.5% of PTB occur during the period of our study. There were high incidence rate of UTI (86%), anemia (70%) , last birth preterm (42%) , and others.