Abstract
Background
Birth asphyxia is considered to be an important cause of perinatal mortality and neurodevelopmental impairment but epidemiological data from developing countries is scarce.
Objectives
To describe the prevalence, risk factors and outcome of birth asphyxia in the main maternity hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal where more than 50% of local mothers deliver.
Methods
The prevalence of birth asphyxia
Design: Prospective descriptive cross-sectional survey
Subjects: 14,771 births
Outcomes: Fresh stillbirths (SB) over 2.0 kg/Neonatal encephalopathy (NE) in term infants / Perinatal death
Risk factors for neonatal encephalopathy and fresh stillbirth in term infants
Design: Retrospective case control study
Subjects: 131 NE cases / 107 fresh stillbirths over 2.0 kg / 635 controls
Outcomes following neonatal encephalopathy
Design: Prospective cohort study
Subjects: 131 NE cases / 208 controls
Outcomes: Death / Neurodevelopmental impairment at one year
Results
The prevalence of birth asphyxia
The prevalence of fresh stillbirth and NE (as measures of birth asphyxia in term infants) were 8.5 per 1000 total births and 6.4 per 1000 livebirths respectively. Birth asphyxia in term infants accounts for 24% of the total perinatal mortality of 44 per 1000 total births in the study population.
Risk factors for neonatal encephalopathy and fresh stillbirth
Evidence of intrapartum compromise was more likely during the labours of fresh stillbirths (76%) and NE infants (68%) than of controls (12%). Multivariate analysis found significant (p
Translated title of the contribution | Public Health Importance of Birth Asphyxia in Kathmandu, Nepal |
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Original language | English |
Type | PhD |
Media of output | Thesis |
Number of pages | 205 |
Publication status | Published - 1999 |