Incidence, Pattern and Outcome of Birth Injuries as Seen in a Tertiary Hospital in Southern Nigeria

Introduction: Birth injuries although inevitable should be avoided to prevent unnecessary neonatal morbidities and mortalities as well as hospital litigations. Aim: To determine the incidence rate, pattern and outcome of birth injuries occurring in the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital. Materials and Methods: An observational prospective study was carried out in the Special Care baby Unit of the hospital. A pre tested proforma was used to collect demographic and pregnancy information from mothers and demographic data, delivery history, type of birth injury and clinical outcome from babies whose parents consented to the study. Results: Thirty-nine of the 5,692 babies delivered during the study period had birth injuries, giving an incidence rate of 6.9 per 1000 live births. The common birth injuries were neurological (26.2%), extracranial (23.8%) and soft tissue injuries (21.4%). Cephalopelvic disproportion (36%), diabetes mellitus in pregnancy (32%) and prolonged labour (20%) were commonly found complications of pregnancy among mothers whose babies had birth injuries. Birth injuries were commoner among males, babies born by normal vaginal delivery and those with birth weights between 2.5-3.9Kg. Neurological injuries were significantly associated with normal vaginal delivery and birth weights of ≥ 4kg while soft tissue injuries were significantly associated with Caesarean section, P value < 0.05. Although majority of them were discharged, mortality rate was 7.7%. Conclusion: Although the incidence of birth injury in this study was low, the morbidity and mortality associated with it are avoidable. Improved antenatal and delivery services are therefore necessary to reduce the incidence of birth injuries. Keywords: Birth injury; Incidence; Pattern; Outcome; Tertiary hospital; Nigeria.