Risk factors for birth before arrival at Siriraj Hospital

Abstract

Objective: To assess the potential risk factors for birth before arrival at Siriraj Hospital. Study design: Prospective case-control study. Setting: Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University. Subjects: The subjects were 320 patients who had delivered at Siriraj Hospital and were divided into two groups. One hundred and sixty patients, who gave birth before admission to the labor room of Siriraj Hospital, were assigned as the study group. The control group consisted of 160 patients who had normal deliveries in the labor room of Siriraj Hospital at the same period of time. Intervention: Information was obtained by interviewing the patients. Both the interviewer and the subjects were blinded to each other. The data were analyzed by using logistic regression model and EpiInfo program. Main outcome measure: Information of antenatal care, socio-economic data, past obstetric history and present data of delivery. Results: The six significant risk factors were identified; education level of the patients (odds ratio 6.11), past history of previous delivery (odds ratio 6.18), past history of preterm delivery (odds ratio 4.03), no antenatal care (odds ratio 8.55), unawareness of true labor symptoms (odds ratio 1.89) and present preterm delivery (odds ratio 2.99). Conclusion: The risk factors identified from this study were low education level, past history of previous delivery, past history of preterm delivery, no antenatal care, unawareness of symptoms of true labor and present preterm delivery. The risk factors from this study should have further study to get more information that can apply to control birth before arrival.