Sociodemographic and medical factors of preterm delivery according to the clinical subtypes of prematurity

Abstract EN

Background: Preterm delivery is defined as childbirth occurring at <37 completed weeks.

Preterm birth remains one of the most important problems in pregnancy, as it is still a major health problem worldwide, which results in 75% of neonatal mortality.

Often, the cause of preterm delivery is unknown; however, several etiological risk factors have been identified.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine sociodemographic and medical risk factors of preterm delivery in relation to clinical subtypes as follows: extremely preterm (<28 weeks), very preterm (28 up to 32 weeks), and moderate-to-late preterm (32 up to 37 weeks).

Materials and Methods: It is a descriptive hospital-based cross-sectional study which was carried out on a convenient sample of 200 preterm babies who were cared for in the neonatal care units in Babylon Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital, Hilla General Teaching Hospital whose mothers accepted to participate in this study.

This study was conducted over 5 months from March 1, 2018 to August 1, 2018.

Results: Thirty-nine percent of respondent mothers had a history of abortion and (18.0%) had a history of recurrent preterm birth.

Spontaneous preterm delivery (premature rupture of membrane) was the mode of delivery in (53.5%) of mothers and (49.5%) of respondents were multigravida.

As high as (43.5%) of respondent mothers had current medical illnesses, hypertension representing (33.33%) of these illnesses.

Forty percent of mothers had irregular ANC and (15.5%) did not have any antenatal care at all.

Conclusion: Several significant risk associations between preterm birth according to clinical subtypes of prematurity and the following risk factors were identified as follows: maternal age, gravidity, birth order, BMI, educational level, mode of delivery, history of abortion, contraceptive use before pregnancy, and genetic defects