The trend and pattern of adult mortality in South-Central Ethiopia: analysis using the 2008-2019 data from Butajira Health and Demographic Surveillance System.

BACKGROUND: Understanding context-specific temporal trends in mortality is essential for setting health policy priorities. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the trends and distribution of deaths due to communicable and non-communicable diseases and external causes in South-Central Ethiopia. METHOD: All adult deaths captured by the Butajira Health and Demographic Surveillance System between January 2008 and December 2019 were included. A verbal autopsy method of collecting cause of death data was used. Physician review and a computerised algorithm, InterVA, were used to determine the cause of death. Coding was undertaken using the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases. Trends in adult mortality rate and proportional mortality were estimated by major cause of death categories. Significant trends were analysed using the Mann-Kendall statistical test with a significance set at P < 0.05. Deaths were also disaggregated by age, sex, and residence. RESULTS: There were 1,612 deaths in 279,681 person-years; 811 (50.3%) were females. The median age at death was 65 years. The proportional adult mortality and adult mortality rates (per 1000 person-years) attributed to communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases, and external causes were 31.1%, 58.9%, and 6.0%, and 1.9, 3.4, and 0.4, respectively. Adult mortality due to communicable diseases showed a declining trend (tau, the measure of the strength and direction of association, = -0.52; P < 0.05), whereas the trend increased for non-communicable diseases (tau = 0.67, P < 0.05) and external causes (tau = 0.29, P > 0.05). Moreover, death rates were pronounced in the 65+ age group and rural areas but comparable among males and females. CONCLUSION: The trend in deaths due to communicable diseases declined but increased for non-communicable diseases and external causes with significant public health burdens. These findings will provide essential input in formulating health policy reforms to reduce premature mortality.

Effect of community-based distribution of misoprostol on facility delivery: a scoping review.

INTRODUCTION: Community distribution of misoprostol to pregnant women in advance of labor is one of the compelling strategies for preventing postpartum hemorrhage. Concerns have been reported that misoprostol distribution could reduce facility delivery or lead to misuse of the medication. This scoping review was conducted to synthesize the evidence on the effect of community-based misoprostol distribution on rates of facility delivery, and to assess the frequency of mothers taking distributed misoprostol before delivery, and any harmful outcomes of such misuse. METHODS: We included peer-reviewed articles on misoprostol implementation from PubMed, Cochrane Review Library, Popline, and Google Scholars. Narrative synthesis was used to analyze and interpret the findings, in which quantitative and qualitative syntheses are integrated. RESULTS: Three qualitative studies, seven observational studies, and four experimental or quasi-experimental studies were included in this study. All before-after household surveys reported increased delivery coverage after the intervention: ranging from 4 to 46 percentage points at the end of the intervention when compared to the baseline. The pooled analysis of experimental and quasi-experimental studies involving 7564 women from four studies revealed that there was no significant difference in rates of facility delivery among the misoprostol and control groups [OR 1.011; 95% CI: 0.906-1.129]. A qualitative study among health professionals also indicated that community distribution of misoprostol for the prevention of postpartum hemorrhage is acceptable to community members and stakeholders and it is a feasible interim solution until access to facility birth increases. In the community-based distribution of misoprostol programs, self-administration of misoprostol by pregnant women before delivery was reported in less than 2% of women, among seven studies involving 11,108 mothers. Evidence also shows that most women who used misoprostol pills, used them as instructed. No adverse outcomes from misuse in either of the studies reviewed. CONCLUSIONS: The claim that community-based distribution of misoprostol would divert women who would have otherwise had institutional deliveries to have home deliveries and promote misuse of the medication are not supported with evidence. Therefore, community-based distribution of misoprostol can be an appropriate strategy for reducing maternal deaths which occur due to postpartum hemorrhages, especially in resource-limited settings.

Risk factors for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy among mothers in Tigray region, Ethiopia: matched case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a global public health concern both in developed and developing countries. However, evidences regarding the risk factors of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are limited particularly in Ethiopia. The aim of the study was to assess risk factors associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy among mothers in public hospitals of Tigray. METHODS: The study was conducted in seven public hospitals of Tigray region, Ethiopia from June 2017 to November 2017. A facility based matched case-control study was employed to select 110 cases and 220 controls who were pregnant women. Cases and controls were matched by parity status. A case was a mother diagnosed to have hypertensive disorders of pregnancy by an obstetrician in the antenatal period while a control was a mother who did not have a diagnosis of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Data were collected by face to face interview technique using a pretested questionnaire and a checklist. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to identify the independent predictor variables. Adjusted matched odds ratio with its corresponding 95% confidence interval was used and significance was claimed at P-value less than 0.05. Overall findings were presented in texts and tables. RESULTS: Rural residents were at greater odds of suffering from hypertensive disorders (OR = 3.7, 95% CI; 1.9, 7.1). Similarly, mothers who consume less amount of fruits in their diet had 5 times higher odds of developing hypertensive disorders than those who consume fruits regularly (OR = 5.1, 95% CI; 2.4, 11.15). Overweight (BMI > 25 Kg/m2) mothers were also at risk of developing hypertensive disorders of pregnancy as compared with the normal and underweight mothers (AOR = 5.5 95% CI; 1.12, 27.6). The risk of developing hypertensive disorders of pregnancy was 5.4 times higher among diabetic mothers. CONCLUSION: Rural residence, less fruit consumption, multiple pregnancy, presence of gestational diabetes mellitus and pre-pregnancy overweight were identified as independent risk factors in this study. It is recommended that health care givers may use these factors as a screening tool for the prediction, early diagnoses as well as timely interventions of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.