Magnitude of Obstructed Labor and Associated Factors Among Women Who Delivered at Public Hospitals of Western Harerghe Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Obstructed labor is one of the common preventable causes of maternal, perinatal morbidity and mortality in low income countries including Ethiopia. The prevalence is more common in communities in which under nutrition in childhood is dominant and where there is no access to health facilities. The common causes are cephalo pelvic disproportion, malpresentation and malposition. The objective of this study was to assess the magnitude of obstructed labor and associated factors among women who delivered at public hospitals in West Harerghe Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Institution based retrospective cross sectional study design was conducted from March 10, 2016 to April 10, 2016 in West Harerghe public hospitals. The data was collected by using structured pretested questionnaire check list. Systematic random sampling technique was used to select 385 delivered women. The data was checked, coded and entered to Epi-info version 3.1 and was exported to SPSS version 21 software. Binary and multiple Logistic regressions were used to analyze the association between the dependent and independent variables. Magnitude of obstructed labor was found to be 34.3% of the total delivered women. The identified independent risk factors for obstructed labor were distance (P-value=0.001, AOR=0.029, 95% CI 0.005-0.169), parthograph utilization (P-value=0.000, AOR=0.064, 95% CI 0.025-0.162) and source of referral (P-value=0.002, AOR=0.346, 95%CI 0.180-0.667). The magnitude of obstructed labor was high in the study area. Improved proper utilization of parthograph, antenatal care coverage, good referral system, and comprehensive obstetric care in nearby health institutions are recommended to prevent obstructed labor and its complications.