Prevalence of Birth Injury and Its Determinants Factors inWest Iran in 2020 - 2021

Birth injuries occur during the birth process. The progress made in birth care and prenatal diagnosis has reduced the prevalence of birth injuries around the globe.

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of birth injuries and their determining factors in Hamadan Fatemieh Hospital, 2020 - 2021.

In this case- control study, all live births between 2020 and 2021 were examined on the first day of birth. In the case of detecting any birth injury, the cases were categorized by injury type and were recorded on a pre-designed form along with the risk factors. An equal number of neonates with no birth injuries were also examined for the same risk factors. Independent test and chi-square test was used to assess in two groups. The results were analyzed using SPSS version 16.

During the study, 66 birth injuries were recorded among 5,592 births (incidence rate 11.8 per 1,000 live births). Proportion incidence of birth injuries were caput succedaneum (28.8%), cephalohematoma (22.7%), ecchymosis (9.1%), subgaleal hemorrhage (7.6%), hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (7.6%), Erb’s palsy (6.1%), abrasion and subconjunctival hemorrhage (3%), and laceration and humerus fracture and clavicle fracture (1.5%). Control group was included 65 neonates without any types of birth injury whom matched with cases in gestational age and weight. According to findings of two groups, these factors lower gestational age, lower Apgar, delivery method (vaginal), and responsible person for delivery significantly related with incidence of birth injuries (P-value < 0.05).

The most prevalent birth injury in Fatemieh Hamadan Medical Training Center was soft tissue injuries, that course training should be provided for health workers.