Factors associated with home delivery in rural Sindh, Pakistan: results from the global network birth registry

Table 1 Socio-demographic and maternal factors of the study participants n = 4649

Variables	Women delivering at home		Women delivering at a facility
	N = 1286		N = 3363
	n	%	n	%
*Socio-demographic Factors*
Maternal age (years)
< 20	32	2.50%	118	3.50%
20–35	1149	89.30%	3076	91.50%
> 36	105	8.20%	169	5.00%
Maternal education^a
Illiterate	1156	89.90%	2703	80.40%
Literate	130	10.10%	660	19.60%
Socioeconomic status^b
Lower	591	46.20%	1599	47.50%
Middle	684	53.00%	1726	51.30%
High	11	0.80%	38	1.20%
*Maternal Factors*
BMI (kg/m²)
< 18.5	330	25.80%	693	20.70%
18.5–23	741	57.80%	1861	55.60%
> 23	210	16.40%	792	23.70%
Maternal hemoglobin (gm/dl) n = 4623
< 8	153	12.00%	363	10.80%
8–10	688	54.00%	1599	47.80%
10.1 and above	433	34.00%	1386	41.40%
Parity
0	222	17.30%	900	26.80%
1–2	446	34.70%	1214	36.10%
3 and above	618	48.10%	1249	37.10%
Outcome of last pregnancy^c
Pregnancy loss	247	19.20%	961	28.60%
Live Birth	1039	80.80%	2402	71.40%
History of C-sections
No	1239	96.30%	2992	89.00%
Yes	47	3.70%	371	11.00%

^aIlliterate includes women with no schooling and Literate includes primary, secondary, higher secondary and above
^bComposite scores were calculated based on assets and house ownership and then categorized on basis of quartiles
^cPregnancy loss includes stillbirths and miscarriages

ISSN: 1471-2393