Predictors and Prevalence of Premature Birth in Vihiga County

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess factors associated with premature births among women delivering in Vihiga county. Design. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Setting. The study was carried out in Vihiga County Sample. The study population comprised of all mothers who delivered at Vihiga Hospital and their newborns. The study used systematic sampling method (n = 166) Analysis. Data wer analyzed through descriptive statistics and chi-square test of independence. Main outcome measures. Fetal factors, pregnancy-related factors, antenatal factors, delivery factors and obstetric factors Results. All the mothers interviewed were aged 18 years and above (100 %). Most of the mothers (79 %) were married, with 19 % being single and 2 % being earlier married but now separated/divorced. Seventy-six percent of the mothers had attained post-primary level of education. The average gestational period was 33 weeks and 39 weeks for preterm and term babies respectively. The average weight of babies for the preterm and term groups was 2.0 kg and 3.1kg respectively. Statistics of the babies delivered show that 47 % were female and 53 % being male. A majority of the mothers had a parity of four and less. Of all the mothers who were interviewed, 98 % attended ANC with 71 % attending 3 or more times. Of the mothers interviewed, 40 % of preterm deliveries were via C/S compared to 26 % among those who delivered vaginally. Of the mothers interviewed, 32 % and 8 % of mothers in the preterm and term groups had PIH while 13 % and 5 % of mothers in the two groups had APH respectively. Findings also revealed that biological factors including high parity, gender, previous preterm birth, twin gestation, PIH, APH, prolonged PPROM and UTI in pregnancy were all significantly associated with preterm birth. APH and parity ≥4 was strongly associated with early (less than34 weeks) preterm delivery while multiple gestation, PIH and UTI were more strongly associated with l