Frequency of short interpregnancy interval in preterm birth.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine frequency of short interpregnancy interval in female with preterm labour. Study Design: Descriptive Cross Sectional study. Setting: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Bacha Khan Medical Complex Swabi. Period: 01July 2018 to 31-December 2018. Material & Methods: After meeting inclusion criteria a total of 212 females with preterm birth as per operational definition were taken. Birth interval ≤ 6 months was labeled as short interpregnancy interval. Results: The mean age of patients in this study was 29.00±6.37 years with mean parity in this study was observed to be 3.23±2.31 with minimum and maximum parity of 1 and 9 respectively. The mean gravida in this study was 2.17±2.25 with minimum and maximum of 0 and 8. The mean gestational age among patients was 29.83±3.29 weeks with minimum and maximum gestational ages of 24.00 weeks and 36.00 weeks respectively. The mean inter-pregnancy interval observed in this study was 7.39±6.14 months with minimum and maximum intervals of 2.00 months and 14.00 months respectively. According to definition, 155 (73.1%) patients had short inter-pregnancy interval. Conclusion: Through this study we found high frequency of short inter pregnancy interval. We must have to establish more and effective family planning awareness to increase birth gap to avoid poor fetomaternal outcome as it is clear that short IPI may directly or indirectly influence the maternal and perinatal health and can potentially increase risk of preterm birth.