Episiotomy Practice and its Associated Factors among Mothers who Gave Birth Vaginally at Public Health Institutions of Shire Town, Northern Ethiopia

Authors

  • Kidane Niguse
  • Gebreamlak Gidey
  • Haftom Gebrehiwot
  • Mebrahtu Abay
  • Darie Getachew
  • Temesgen Worku

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37591/rrjohp.v6i1.850

Abstract

Obstetric perineal trauma is assumed to be a serious health problem for women as well as for their child during their childbirth. Episiotomy is the commonest obstetric surgical operation performed to increase the diameter of the vulvas outlet during the late period of the second stage of labor in order to facilitate vaginal delivery. The rate of episiotomy is on the decline in developed countries but still remains high in developing countries. Though practice of episiotomy has become common problem among mothers who delivered vaginally in Ethiopia, studies are limited to show the extent of the problem. The objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of episiotomy practice and associated factors among laboring women in public health institutions of Shire town, Ethiopia. Institution-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 407 laboring mothers from May to August, 2014 in 3 health institutions of Shire town, Ethiopia. Systematic random sampling technique was used to select study participants and data were entered and cleaned using Epi-info version 7, and was analyzed using SPSS window version 20 software. Both bivariate and multivariate analysis with 95% CI was applied to avoid any confounding variables. Finally, the results were presented in texts, tables and graphs. Among the study participants, episiotomy was performed for 144 (35.4%) mothers. Age group 15–20 years [AOR=3.53 (95% CI 1.059, 12.786)] and 21–34 years [AOR=3.46 (95% CI =(1.24, 9.637)], primipara [AOR= 2.12 (95% CI=(1.146, 3.935)], history of gestational hypertension [AOR=2.59 (95% CI=(1.0499, 6.377)], post-term [AOR=2.35 (95% CI=(1.088, 5.076)], and use of oxytocin [AOR=2.19 (95% CI=(1.195, 4.010)] were factors significantly associated with episiotomy practice. The prevalence of episiotomy practice in this study was relatively high (35.4%) as compared to the recommended practice by the World Health Organization (10%). Parity, gestational age, and use of oxytocin drug were the variables that had influenced the practice level of episiotomy. Thus, periodic on-job training regarding the indication of episiotomy should be provided to all the obstetric care providers and more efforts should be made to reduce the rate of episiotomy in order to improve the well-being and quality of life of woman as well.

Keywords: Episiotomy, vaginal delivery, Shire, public health institution

Cite this Article

Niguse K, Gidey G, Gebrehiwot H,et al. Episiotomy Practice and its Associated Factors among Mothers who Gave Birth Vaginally at Public Health Institutions of Shire Town, Northern Ethiopia. Research & Reviews: Journal of Health Professions. 2016; 6(1): 15–21p.

Downloads

Published

2019-03-19

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Research Article

License

Declaration and Copyright Transfer Form

(to be completed by authors)

I/ We, the undersigned author(s) of the submitted manuscript, hereby declare, that the above manuscript which is submitted for publication in the STM Journals(s), is not published already in part or whole (except in the form of abstract) in any journal or magazine for private or public circulation, and, is not under consideration of publication elsewhere.

  • I/We will not withdraw the manuscript after 1 week of submission as I have read the Author Guidelines and will adhere to the guidelines.
  • I/We Author(s ) have niether given nor will give this manuscript elsewhere for publishing after submitting in STM Journal(s).
  • I/ We have read the original version of the manuscript and am/ are responsible for the thought contents embodied in it. The work dealt in the manuscript is my/ our own, and my/ our individual contribution to this work is significant enough to qualify for authorship.
  •  I/We also agree to the authorship of the article in the following order:

Author’s name                                    

 

1. ________________

2. ________________

3. ________________

4. ________________

 

We  Author(s) tick this box and would request you to consider it as our signature as we agree to the terms of this Copyright Notice, which will apply to this submission if and when it is published by this journal.