Preterm Birth and Associated Factors among Mothers Who Gave Birth in Gondar Town Health Institutions

Abstract

Background. The birth of a preterm infant has a greater risk of developmental disabilities, health, and growth problems than infants born at full term. The main aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of preterm birth Northwest Ethiopia, Gondar town health institutions. Methods. Facility based cross section study was undertaken. Systematic sampling was used to select 540 study participants. Both bivariate and multiple logistic regression were fitted. Variables with p value < 0.05 and 95% CI in multivariate were considered statistically significant. Result. This study showed that 4.4% from the total 540 mothers gave a preterm birth. The covariates of pregnancy induced hypertension (AOR 5.36 (95% CI 1.8, 15.96)) and being HIV positive (AOR 3.4 (95% CI 1.25, 9.2)) were found to be significantly associated with preterm birth. Conclusion. The main factors for preterm birth were pregnancy induced hypertension and being HIV positive. Therefore, still efforts have to be made to decrease the prevalence of preterm birth and for timely management of pregnancy induced hypertension and identifying pregnant women at the risk of preterm delivery like HIV positive women and proving quality of healthcare may decrease the rate of preterm birth and its consequences.