ABSTRACT
A retrospective study of 432 consecutive singleton low birthweight babies and 432 unmatched controls was carried out at the Port Moresby General Hospital from January to December 1988. Of the 432 low birthweight babies 65% were preterm, 27% were light for gestational age, 6% were both preterm and light for gestational age and 2.5% could not be classified. The results of the analysis showed low birthweight to be significantly associated with the past delivery of a low birthweight infant, very young and elderly mothers, lack of antenatal care, poor family planning, hypertensive disease in pregnancy and intrauterine death. This study reveals that maternal education and improved antenatal care and family planning would ultimately reduce the incidence of low birthweight babies and perinatal mortality in Papua New Guinea.
Subject(s)
Infant Mortality/trends , Infant, Low Birth Weight , Analysis of Variance , Case-Control Studies , Chi-Square Distribution , Confidence Intervals , Developing Countries , Female , Gestational Age , Hospitals, General , Humans , Incidence , Infant, Newborn , Logistic Models , Male , New Guinea/epidemiology , Pregnancy , Reference Values , Registries , Retrospective Studies , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
In a retrospective study of 130 out of 141 consecutive cases of antepartum haemorrhage admitted to the Obstetrics Unit of the Port Moresby General Hospital in the three years 1987 to 1989, 33% had abruptio placentae, 48% had placenta praevia and in 19% the cause of the APH could not be determined. Delivery was by caesarean section in 56% of cases compared to a caesarean section rate of 3% for the total obstetric population. Stillbirth rates per 1000 total births were 223 for all the 130 cases, 81 for the praevia group, 488 for the abruptio group and 120 for the indeterminate group. The stillbirth rate for all deliveries in the hospital in the year 1989 was 21.5/1000.
