Stillbirths and very low Apgar scores among vaginal births in a tertiary hospital in Ghana: a retrospective cross-sectional analysis

Table 1 Background characteristics and obstetric outcomes

	Live births only^aN = 8,234 n (%)	Total number of deliveries^bN = 8,758 n (%)
Age group (years)
12-19	800 (9.7)	841 (9.6)
20-35	6,493 (79.0)	6,899 (78.9)
36-50	927 (11.3)	1,003 (11.5)
Occupation
Skilled	780 (9.8)	809 (9.6)
Semi-skilled	5,734 (72.0)	6,113 (72.2)
Unemployed	1,452 (18.2)	1,543 (18.2)
Religion
Christian	6,750 (84.2)	7,164 (84.1)
Moslem/other	1,263 (15.8)	1,357 (15.9)
Parity
0	2,877 (36.0)	3,056 (35.9)
1-4	4,634 (57.9)	4,915 (57.8)
5+	486 (6.1)	538 (6.3)
Number of singleton/multiple births
Singleton (1)	7,955 (96.6)	8,464 (96.6)
Multiple (2 or 3)	279 (3.4)	294 (3.4)
Hypertensive disorder in pregnancy
No	7,843 (95.3)	8,297 (94.7)
Yes	391 (4.7)	461 (5.3)
Type of delivery
Spontaneous vaginal delivery	7,916 (96.2)	8,355 (95.4)
Breech delivery	224 (2.7)	297 (3.4)
Vacuum extraction	94 (1.1)	106 (1.2)
Condition of perineum after delivery
Intact	5,771 (72.9)	6,171(73.5)
Episiotomy	579 (7.3)	609 (7.3)
Perineal tear	1,563 (19.8)	1,618 (19.2)
Sex of baby
Female	3,989 (48.5)	4,223 (48.3)
Male	4,230 (51.5)	4,517 (51.7)
Birth weight
Normal birth weight (≥2500 g)	7,307 (89.3)	7,597 (87.4)
Low birth weight (<2500 g)	876 (10.7)	1,099 (12.6)
Outcome of delivery
Stillbirth	N/A	517 (5.9)
Live birth	8,234 (100)	8,234 (94.1)

Missing values among live births only^a and total number of deliveries^b: 14 (0.17%)^a and 15 (0.17%)^b for maternal age; 268 (3.3)^a and 293 (3.4%)^b for occupation; 221 (2.7%)^a and 237 (2.7%)^b for religion; 237 (2.9%)^a and 249 (2.8%)^b for parity; 321 (3.9)^a and 360 (4.1%)^b for condition of perineum; 15 (0.18%)^a and 18 (0.21%)^b for sex of baby; 2 (0.02%)^b for gestation at delivery; 51 (0.6%)^a and 62 (0.7%)^b for birth weight; 7 (0.08)^b for outcome of delivery. N/A- not applicable.

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