Seasonal variation and socio-demographic factors affecting child- birth in Zaria, north-western Nigeria

Abstract

BACKGROUND
The high maternal morbidity and mortality in developing countries can be linked to the skewed manpower distribution and inadequate planning and provision of maternal health services. An understanding of the seasonal variation and effect of social as well as demographic factors on monthly birth rates will help decision makers in the allocation of scarce human and material resources to coincide with periods of high childbirth rates.

OBJECTIVES
This study was carried out to determine the frequency of monthly childbirth and factors that affect such variations.

METHODS
It was a cross sectional retrospective study of delivery records at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching hospital, Zaria from January 2009 to December 2011. Data was collected manually and analysed using SPSS version 20.0

RESULTS
There were a total of 5015 deliveries over the study period with a yearly average of 1670. Forty five percent (45%) of parturient were aged between 25  30 years while 46.3% of them were primiparous. A bimodal distribution of peak birth rate was observed in months of March to May, and September to October respectively. There was a significant association between parity and monthly variation of childbirth which was more for primiparous women (rs= 0.01, α <0.05).

CONCLUSION
There was an observed increase in the birth rate around the rainy and harmattan seasons. This knowledge can aid planning of health manpower distribution in order to ensure adequate coverage around these periods.