Place of delivery among women who had antenatal care in a teaching hospital.
BACKGROUND
The utilization of antenatal care services does not necessarily equate to delivery at the health facility. The objectives of this study were to determine the proportion of pregnant women who had antenatal care and delivered in the hospital and the reasons for delivery elsewhere.


METHODS
Pregnant women of low risk who initiated antenatal care at the University Teaching Hospital were recruited consecutively from January to June 2004 and longitudinally followed up until delivery. A two-part questionnaire was used to obtain information on biosocial data, place of delivery, accoucher, fetomaternal outcome, and reason(s) for delivery elsewhere.


RESULTS
Of the 1,080 women studied, 740 (68.5%) delivered in the hospital while 340 (31.5%) delivered elsewhere. The majority (52) of the deliveries elsewhere were at the woman's home. There were more literate women amongst the hospital delivery group, while there were more women of high parity and with a previous home birth in the home delivery group (p<0.05). Fetomaternal outcomes were similar in both groups. Nurses/midwives conducted most (60%) of the home deliveries and the principal reasons for home births were privacy and lack of transport during labor.


CONCLUSIONS
68.5% of women who had uneventful antenatal care delivered in the hospital. Home delivery was the commonest site for delivery elsewhere and the main reasons were privacy and lack of transportation. Skilled attendants conducted most of the home deliveries with good fetomaternal outcome. There might be a need to encourage women during antenatal care to reach out for skilled attendants when home delivery becomes inevitable.
Ekele
Bissallah A
BA
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Nigeria. bissekele@yahoo.com
Tunau
Karima A
KA
D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003696:Delivery Rooms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006700:Home Childbirth / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009549:Nigeria; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011295:Prenatal Care; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires