Original Research Article
Year: 2023 | Month: March | Volume: 13 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 275-284
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijhsr.20230331
Sociodemographic Characteristics and Birth Outcomes at Eku Baptist Hospital, Delta State, Nigeria
Mbee, Daniel Mbee1, Aibangbee, Omorovbiye2
1Ph.D Department of Geography and Environmental Management, Faculty of Social Sciences University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
2MBBS, FWCP General Hospital Otu Jeremi, Ughelli South, Delta State, Nigeria
Corresponding Author: Mbee, Daniel Mbee
ABSTRACT
Globally, over 9million babies die each year during the perinatal period and nearly all of these deaths occur in the developing countries including Nigeria. In this paper, attempt is made to examine the relationship between the socio demographic characteristics of pregnant women and low birth weight outcomes at Eku Baptist Hospital. The study adopted the cross-sectional and participant observation research designs. Primary and secondary data were utilized in this study. Pregnant women who registered in the antenatal ward constituted the study population and they were 161. A census of the entire sample frame was taken since the number of pregnant women who indicated interest in the study was not large. Accordingly, the study instrument (questionnaire) was administered to the 161 pregnant women. Data analysis was done using simple percentage and multiple regression with Fisher’s exact test in the SPSS version 20.0 environment. The empirical finding suggests that age, income and level of education were significantly associated with low birth weight. The level of education of the participants was significantly associated with the birth weight of their babies (p < 0.001). More than half of the participants (66.7%) with primary level of education had low birth weight of <2.5kg while less than one-third (27.8%) of those with tertiary education delivered low birth weight babies. Also, 72.2% of women with income less than N20,000 had low birth weight while none (0.00%) of the women with family income greater than N100,000 had babies with low birth weight. The study established that there is statistically significant relationship between perinatal outcomes and socio demographic characteristics. Following the findings of the study, it is recommended that government at the local and sub national levels, corporate groups, health organizations and institutions should provide education and enlightenment to pregnant women to avoid infant mortality. Also, families should provide materially for pregnant women to avoid poor birth outcomes.
Key words: Socio demographic, women, pregnant and perinatal outcomes