Still births at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital: Characteristics of parents, pregnancy and labour

Abstract

As part of an autopsy study of 93 still births out of a total of 3,761 deliveries in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) information was collected on the characteristics of the parents and the pregnancy which resulted in the still births to determine the factors that influenced the outcome of the pregnancies. Analysis of the data obtained revealed important factors that influenced the outcome of these pregnancies and reflected on inadequacies of maternal services in the Accra metropolis and probably the whole of the country. Low maternal educational level, low socioeconomic status of the families, late commencement and irregular antenatal attendance were present in majority of the mothers. Intra-partum foetal death was low, 17% (16 out of 93) while antenatal foetal death was 83% (73 out of 93). The high ante-partum foetal death may be a reflection of inadequate maternal services in the Accra metropolis. About half of the pregnancies studied, 46 out of 93, were unplanned out of which 10 were contraception failures. Hypertension was the most common pre-existing maternal complication while the most common maternal complication was maternal pyrexia followed by anteparll1m haemorrhage and gestational hypertension with and without other features of pre-eclampsia. Measures to reduce late foetal loss and improve antenatal care and coverage are suggested.