Assessing the Predictors of Delivery at the Expected Date of Confinement among Women in Yenagoa, Southern Nigeria | Chapter 4 | Research Trends and Challenges in Medical Science Vol. 8

 Context: Using the Naegle law, which is 280 days or 40 weeks of gestation, the expected date of confinement is determined, but it is noted that most women prefer to deliver between 38 and 42 weeks. Unfortunately, only a few women deliver exactly on the planned date of incarceration, but the explanation remains largely unknown.

Objective: Using the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital as a case study, the purpose of this study is to determine the percentage of women in Yenagoa who can deliver on their expected containment date. It will also determine whether there is a major effect on the date of delivery by maternal age, parity, tribe, body mass index, birth weight and fetal sex.

Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational analysis of 3,420 pregnant women admitted to work and delivered on time to the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department of the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital in Southern Nigeria. The research was performed from 1 January 2009 until 31 December 2012. A total of 2380 booked parents residing in Yenagoa were chosen, whose last daily menstrual cycle was recorded in the case notes, including those who had an early first-trimester ultrasound scan. Data concerning their planned containment dates and the actual delivery dates have been retrieved. The maternal age, parity, tribe, birth weight, and fetal sex were also retrieved. Others involve on-booking maternal height and weight; these were used to measure the index of body mass. The information was then analyzed.

Results: 85.0 percent of women delivered on term in Yenagoa, and just a handful of 7.4 percent delivered on the planned date of confinement. Low body mass index (BMI of 18.5 kg/m2) and male babies (p=0.006) were correlated with delivery on this date. Nulliparous women were twice more likely than multiparas to deliver on EDC, Odds Ratio = 2.44, P = 0.002, and women with a mean maternal age of 25-29 years were four times more likely than women ⁇ 35 years to deliver on EDC, Odds Ratio = 4.93, p = 0.0003. Yoruba women living in Yenagoa have delivered more to the EDC than any other Nigerian tribe.

Conclusion: While the majority of the women in the sample delivered on a term basis, only a few delivered on their EDC date, it was difficult to predict the exact date of childbirth. Biological variables of the would-be mother and ethnicity stand out from our research as some of the best predictors of delivery among women living in Yenagoa, Southern Nigeria, on the date of confinement.

Author (s) Details

Dr. Ikobho Ebenezer Howells
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.

Addah Ojanerohan Abednigo
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.

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