BIRTH ASPHYXIA AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG NEWBORNS DELIVERED BY EMERGENCY CESAREAN SECTION IN SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS: MULTI CENTER CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY.

Abstract

Background: Birth asphyxia is the neonate’s inability to initiate or sustain spontaneous breathing. Even though improvements are being made to decrease the number of neonates being exposed, the magnitude and associated factors of birth asphyxia specifically in emergency cesarean sections have not been fully understood. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence and associated factors of birth asphyxia in parturients who underwent emergency cesarean section in southern Ethiopia university hospitals. Method: A multi-center cross-sectional study was conducted among 418 parturients in 4 randomly selected university hospitals from February 7 to June 8, 2023 G.C on parturients that gave birth by emergency cesarean section. A systematic random sampling was used to collect the data using a semi-structured and pretested questionnaire from the participants and chart. The data was then encoded and entered into Epi-Data and exported to SPSS. A binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify any associated factors for birth asphyxia and variables with a P value less than 0.25 were entered into the multivariate analysis to identify independent factors. A P-value less than 0.05 was taken as significant. Result: our study found that the overall prevalence of birth asphyxia is 28%. Antenatal visits of less than 4 AOR= 10.83, 95%CI (5.574-21.057), conventional spinal anesthesia technique AOR=5.39, 95%CI (3.043-9.58), and substance abuse AOR= 5.334, 95%CI (1.773-16.05) had a significant association with birth asphyxia. Conclusion and recommendation: Our study showed that the prevalence of birth asphyxia in emergency cesarean section is high. Therefore, professionals must choose wisely the mode of spinal anesthesia and have a thorough history of the parturients substance use. Targeted educational programs should also focus more on maternal antenatal care awareness