PREVALENCE AND FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH EPISIOTOMY PRACTICE AMONG PRIMIPAROUS WOMEN IN MULAGO NATIONAL REFERRAL HOSPITAL

Abstract

Introduction; Episiotomy, an obstetric procedure introduced into practice without any clear scientific evidence showing its benefits, became almost a procedure done on all parturient women. Recently, liberal episiotomy has been discouraged and WHO recommends episiotomy rate of about 10% or less. The procedure substantially increases risk of anal sphincter damage, improper wound healing, hematoma, infections wound gapping and perineal pain. Objective; To investigate the prevalence of episiotomy and associated factors among primiparous parturients at Mulago National Referral Hospital. Methods; This was a cross-sectional study conducted at Mulago National Referral Hospital in the months of February and March 2018. 250 participants were systematically recruited on the first postnatal day after they have met the inclusion criteria. Socio-demographic, obstetrics characteristics were recorded in the first post delivery day. Results; The Prevalence of episiotomy was 73% and the significantly associated factors with occurrence of the procedure in this study were duration of second stage of labor; 31-60 minutes (OR=3.6, p=0.001) or greater than 60 minutes (OR=7.2, p=0.015) and gestational age (OR=1.8, p=0.0001).

Conclusion; Episiotomy is liberally performed in Mulago Hospital. The main predictors for episiotomy were gestational age and delay in second stage.