Determinants of interpregnancy interval among parturient in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Interpregnancy interval (IPI) offers an important period which allows the parturient to recover from the effects of pregnancy and to be in optimum health before the next pregnancy. Short IPI has serious health and economic implications. Objective: To determine the IPI among parturient attending the antenatal clinic of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and the factors that determine this interval. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey involving 340 eligible women who attended the antenatal clinic. A pretested interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain relevant information from the participants. The Chi-square and Student's t-tests were used to determine association between predictor variables and the IPI with P < 0.05 as level of significance. Results: The mean age of respondents was 28.4 ± 3.9 years. The average IPI was 14.9 ± 8.5 months with a range of 3-28 months. The incidence of women with short IPI was 65.9% (224/340). Contraceptive use, the presence of a male child, perinatal death in the previous confinement, number of living children, previous history of infertility, duration of exclusive breastfeeding, and duration of postpartum amenorrhea showed significant association with the IPI. Conclusion: A significant proportion of our women had short IPI. Lack and failure of contraceptive use, absence of a male child, small family size, and perinatal death were among the factors that were significantly associated with short IPI. Knowledge of the of these factors would be of assistance to family planning counselors to understand the peculiar needs of our women and to offer appropriate contraceptive advice.