The Tragic Consequences Of Unsupervised Pregnancies Among Patients Referred To A Tertiary Maternity Unit In Lagos,South West Nigeria

Abstract

Our tertiary maternity unit conducts the deliveries of its registered and supervised antenatal cases. It also accepts referred cases, some of whom had no antenatal supervision coming in normal or complicated labour. This study was conducted to assess the impact of lack of supervised antenatal care on the foetal and obstetrical outcomes in Lagos, South Western Nigeria.It was a prospective study and data was obtained from patients and patients’ records.The study subjects were labour cases with no evidence of supervised antenatal care. Controls were the immediate next booked parturients admitted in labour.Sociodemographic data, intrapartum complications, mode of delivery, maternal mortality, puerperal morbidity, estimated blood loss, foetal birth weight, Apgar score, perinatal mortality, duration of hospital stay were recorded.There was a significantly higher incidence of operative and caesarean deliveries as well as mortality among the unbooked patients.Neonatal asphyxia and perinatal deaths were more commonly found in the babies of the unbooked patients.Lack of supervised antenatal care is associated with a significantly worse foeto-maternal outcome in a cosmopolitan setting like Lagos.