patients’ case files included; age, nationality, literacy level, booking
status, parity, gestational age, fetal presentation, number of fetuses,
route of delivery, APGAR score at the first and the fifth minutes, birth
weight of fetus and whether or not neonate survived i.e. the outcome
of the baby (at delivery or within one week of life, or admission in
the special care baby unit). The proforma was initially used for data
collection which was transferred to data sheet before entering them
into the Epi-info software. The total deliveries for the period were also
determined. The perinatal outcome of the babies was also determined
by noting the APGAR scores at delivery and the condition of the
babies on or before one week of admission in the SCBU or condition
at discharge. In a multiple pregnancy, only the fetus with a prolapsed
cord was included in the study.
The study was approved by the hospital research ethics committee.
Umbilical cord prolapse was defined as the presence of cord below
the presenting part following rupture of membranes. We excluded
all fetuses with congenital abnormality. All the cases with live fetuses
were managed with manual elevation of presenting part, instillation
of 500 ml of normal saline in the bladder or positioning in head down
position before delivery.
The odds ratios were calculated to identify the relationship
between umbilical cord prolapse and some of the potential risk factors.
The adjusted (corrected) odds ratios (OR) were calculated using the
Mantel-Haenszel method, and a P value of