The Incidence and Risk Factors for Preterm Delivery in Northeast Thailand

Abstract

Objectives: To identify incidence and risk factors of preterm delivery among women who delivered in northeastern of Thailand.Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted at Srinagarind Hospital, the tertiary care hospital in the northeastern of Thailand. Medical records of 1,108 women who had delivery from January 2017 to December 2018 were reviewed. The incidence rate of preterm birth and the risk factors were identified and preterm birth was classified into spontaneous preterm and indicated preterm cases in subgroup analysis. To analyze the data, chi-square test and multiple logistic regression models were used to identify odds ratios with 95% confidence interval and p value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The incidence of preterm birth was estimated as 10.83%. The spontaneous preterm birth was the largest category, at 67% of preterm birth. The risk factors were associated with preterm birth included the number of time to antenatal care < 4, multifetal pregnancy, placenta previa and hypertensive disorders in both univariate and multivariate analyses. After subgroup analysis, inter-pregnancy interval between 6-12 months, multifetal pregnancy and fetal growth restriction were statistically significantly associated with spontaneous preterm birth group even after adjusting for confounding factors. The maternal cardiac disease was associated with increased risk of all preterm subtypes.Conclusion: Inadequate antenatal care, multifetal pregnancy, placenta previa and hypertensive disorders were strongly associated risk factor for preterm delivery in northeastern of Thailand. Additionally, subgroup analysis showed inter-pregnancy interval between 6-12 months, multifetal pregnancy and fetal growth restriction were statistically significantly associated with spontaneous preterm birth. The northeastern of Thailand pregnancy women should be routinely screened for these risk factors and prevented to decrease preterm birth.

Keywords

• incidence
• northeastern thailand
• preterm birth
• risk factors