Empirical analysis of factors associated with neonatal length of stay in Sunyani, Ghana

Abstract

Postpartum length of stay (LOS) in hospital continues to be a subject of intense discourse and research, especially for mothers of neonates born with low birth weight (LBW). This study investigates the association of total LOS (pre and postpartum) with a range of factors related to geo-demographics, maternal health and pregnancy history. It also provides simple estimates of likely duration of neonatal hospital length of stay based on data from two public hospitals at Sunyani, Brong Ahafo Region, Ghana. The LOS is affected by maternal age, parity (number of children ever born), neonate birth weight, maternal employment and income status. Smoking and consumption of locally brewed alcoholic drinks were also found to significantly prolong the total LOS. The Log-normal model was the best parametric model for total LOS.

Predictors of prolonged hospitalization after vaginal birth in Ghana: A comparative study

“…The results from the 2017 cohort rather revealed that women at their advanced maternal age 30+ years were 1.24 times more likely to have prolonged length of hospitalization after vagina delivery than women aged 15-19 years. This finding was consistent with other earlier published studies [11,33]. Van otterloo et al found women aged above 30 years were at 1.49-1.77 times higher risk of prolonged length of stay after both vaginal and cesarean births than those aged 25-29 years [33].…”

“…Advanced maternal age has been identified as a significant determinant of most pregnancy discharge outcomes, which prolonged hospitalization is not an exception [11,32,33]. The present study's results on the 2007 cohort found no significant association between all age groups and prolonged hospitalization after vaginal delivery.…”

“…Few studies in Ghana have attempted to assess the predictors of LOS [11,12], although valuable, these studies did not compare prolonged LOS between two time-separated cohorts, amalgamated both delivery types (cesarean section vs vaginal birth) into a single cohort irrespective of their differences, and had small sample sizes not representative of all geographical regions in Ghana, hence precluding generalization of findings. Therefore, the present study is an attempt to fill in these research gaps by exploring differences in predictors of prolonged LOS by comparing two different cohorts over 10 years.…”

Determinantes de estancia prolongada de neonatos en una unidad de cuidados intensivos

“…La presente investigación arroja evidencia que demuestra que la edad de la madre es un determinante de estancias prologadas en rn. Se observa que los hijos de madres jóvenes (>18 años) y mayores (<34 años) son los que tienen mayor probabilidad de ingresar a uci y generar estancia prolongada (8,22,27). Por otro lado, contar con al menos un control prenatal disminuye la probabilidad de que un neonato genere estancias prolongadas.…”

“…Es importante mencio-nar que el hacinamiento, no contar con servicio de gas y la exposición a basuras resultaron no significativas. Sin embargo, diversos estudios han identificado que componentes como necesidades básicas insatisfechas (estrato socioeconómico), familias monoparentales (madre sola), ubicación geográfica, entre otros impactan significativamente en la duración del neonato en uci (26,27).…”