Magnitude and Associated Factors of Maternal Near Miss in Public Hospitals of Tigrai, Northern Ethiopia: A Cross Sectional Study.

The purpose of this study was to determine magnitude and associated factors of maternal near miss among women seeking obstetric and gynecologic care. A hospital based cross-sectional study design was implemented in selected public hospitals of Tigrai. Systematic random sampling method was used to select study participants. Data were entered to epi data manager version 4.1 and exported to Statistical Package for social science version 20 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with maternal near miss. The magnitude of maternal near miss was found to be 7.3%. Regression analysis showed that, mothers who reside in rural area, had distance of greater than 10 km, referred from low level health institution, and mothers had no antenatal care follow up were significantly associated with maternal near miss. Therefore, promoting antenatal care and increasing awareness in rural areas related with maternal health care services is recommended.

Determinants of Uterine Rupture and Its Management Outcomes among Mothers Who Gave Birth at Public Hospitals of Tigrai, North Ethiopia: An Unmatched Case Control Study.

INTRODUCTION: Uterine rupture is a leading cause of maternal death in Ethiopia. Despite strengthening the health care system and providing basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric care closer to the communities, uterine rupture continues to produce devastating maternal and fetal outcomes. Although risk factors of uterine rupture are context specific, there is lack of clarity in our context towards the contributing factors and untoward outcomes of uterine rupture. This study was conducted to identify the risk factors of uterine rupture and its impacts in public hospitals of Tigrai. OBJECTIVE: This study would identify determinant factors of uterine rupture and its management outcomes among mothers who gave birth in public hospitals in Tigrai region, North Ethiopia. METHOD: A retrospective hospital-based unmatched case control study design was implemented with 135 cases of women with uterine rupture and 270 controls of women without uterine rupture. Cases were enrolled consecutively from case notes of women who gave birth from 1/9/2015 to 30/6/2019, while charts (case note) of women without uterine rupture found following the cases were selected randomly and enrolled. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression with 95% confidence interval was used to identify the determinants of uterine rupture. RESULT: Mothers referred from remote health institutions (AOR 7.29 (95% CI: 2.7, 19.68)), mothers who visited once for antenatal care (AOR 2.85 (95% CI: 1.02, 7.94)), those experiencing obstructed labor (AOR 13.33 (95% CI: 4.23, 42.05)), and birth weight of a newborn greater than four kilograms (AOR 5.68 (95% CI: 1.39, 23.2)) were significantly associated with uterine rupture. From 135 mothers who develop uterine rupture, 13 (9.6%) mothers died and 101 (74.8%) fetuses were stillborn. Obstetrical complications like abdominal hysterectomy in 75 (55.6%) of mothers and excessive blood loss in 84 (57.8%) were additional untoward outcomes of uterine rupture. CONCLUSION: Referrals from remote health institutions, once-visited antenatal care, obstructed labor, and birth weight of newborns greater than four kilograms were significant determinants of uterine rupture. Maternal death, stillbirth, hysterectomy, and hemorrhage were adverse outcomes. The findings of this study suggest early identification of factors that expose to uterine rupture during antenatal care, labor, and delivery must be attended to and further prospective studies are needed to explore predictors of untoward outcomes. Knowing the determinants of uterine rupture helps prevent the occurrence of a problem in pregnant women, which reduces maternal morbidity and mortality, and would have a tremendous help in identifying the best optional strategies in our current practices. This assertion was added to the abstract concluding session.

Maternal and fetal outcomes of cesarean delivery and factors associated with its unfavorable management outcomes; in Ayder Specialized Comprehensive Hospital, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia, 2017.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the unfavorable outcomes and to assess factors contribute to the unfavorable management outcomes after cesarean deliveries in Ayder Specialized Comprehensive Hospital, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia, 2017. RESULTS: The unfavorable maternal management outcomes were Adhesion 28 (8.3%), excessive blood loss and blood transfusion 19 (5.6%), cesarean hysterectomy 10 (3%), relaparotomy 5 (1.5%), wound infection and wound dehiscence 23 (6.8%). Unfavorable fetal outcomes were were stillbirth 9 (2.6%), early neonatal death 8 (2.4%), low birth weight 58 (17.2%). women who did not book for Antenatal Care and having a history of previous cesarean delivery were found to be associated with unfavorable maternal outcomes and indications of cesarean delivery as obstructed labor was associated with unfavorable fetal outcomes.

Early initiation of breastfeeding and associated factors among mothers of aged less than 12 months children in rural eastern zone, Tigray, Ethiopia: cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to assess early initiation of breastfeeding and associated factors among mothers of aged less than 12 months children in the rural eastern zone, Tigray, Ethiopia. RESULTS: Totally 803 mother-child pairs were participated in this study with a response rate of 99.25%. Out of this, 787 mothers had ever breastfed their children. Four hundred eighty-seven (61.9%) mothers initiated breastfeeding within 1 h after they gave birth. Mothers having an educational status of primary education were about 2 times more likely to initiate breastfeeding within 1 h of birth [AOR: 1.99, 95% CI 1.36-2.92] and those mothers having secondary education and above were 3.23 times more likely to start breastfeeding [AOR = 3.23, 95% CI 1.99-5.26]. Mothers who had mistimed pregnancy were 58% less likely to initiate breastfeeding within 1 h of birth [AOR: 0.42, 95% CI 0.27-0.65]. On the other hand, mothers who had delivered their child vaginally were 4.6 times more likely to start early initiation of breast feeding [AOR: 4.59, 95% CI 1.99-10.56].

Utilization of the partograph and its associated factors among obstetric care providers in the Eastern zone of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, 2017: a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: the partograph is a pre-printed paper form used in monitoring the progress labor. It was initially introduced by Philpot; and endorsed by the World Health Organization as a simple and accurate instrument for early recognition of complications of labor. Our study was conducted to evaluate the utilization of the partograph and associated factors among obstetric care providers in the Eastern zone of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia 2017. METHODS: a cross-sectional study was conducted in the Eastern zone of Tigray. Four hundred and fourteen participants were randomly selected from the Eastern zone weredas (districts). Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The data were entered into epi data version 3.5 and exported to SPSS V-20 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate analysis were done to determine the association between a dependent variable and independent variables at P-value <0.05. RESULTS: of the 406 obstetric care providers, 83% of them had utilized the partograph to monitor labor. In addition, utilization of the partograph were statistically associated with being female (AOR=2.09, 95%CI= (1.11, 3.93), age group of 20-25 (AOR=0.25, 95%CI= (0.07, 0.88), being a diplomat midwives (AOR=0.01, 95%CI= (0.00, 0.28)) and having qualified from pre-service training (AOR=0.01, 95%CI= (0.02, 0.05)). CONCLUSION: participants' utilization of the partograph was generally good. However, most of them were using it incorrectly. Age, gender, level of educational, year of qualification from pre-service training were the variables that showed association with the utilization of the partograph. The provision of on-the-job training on the partograph is recommended to improve partograph utilization.