Prevalence and determinants of stillbirth in attended deliveries in University Hospital, Eastern Ethiopia in 2021

Stillbirth is associated with a wide range of factors. The aim of study was to assay the prevalence of still birth at 28th week of gestation or later. In addition, it strove to identify the factors associated with stillbirth among women in Eastern Ethiopia in 2021.

The design of the study was cross-sectional, and it was conducted at a public hospital, Harar, in Ethiopia, from March 10 to May 10, 2021. A census sampling method was used to select 336 participants for the study. Information on socio-demographic status, maternal health, pregnancy, labor, and birth outcome was collected through a structured checklist. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to identify factors associated with still birth.

In this study, the prevalence of stillbirth was 12.6%. In bivariate analysis, mother age, place of residence, premature rupture of membranes, antepartum hemorrhage, gestational age, hypertensive disorder, congenital anomaly, partograph use during pregnancy, and the previous history of still birth among mothers were significantly associated with stillbirth. After adjusting confounder variables, significant factors associated with stillbirth were: high maternal age, rural residential areas, the use of partograph during labor and the previous history of still birth.

This finding of this study indicated that the high prevalence of stillbirth is a big health care concern in Hara, Eastern Ethiopia. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on further in order to identify and mitigate issues related to advanced maternal age, rural residents, the previous history of stillbirth, and partograph plotting in labor factors.