Immediate unfavorable birth outcomes and determinants of operative vaginal delivery among mothers delivered in East Gojjam Zone Public Hospitals, North West Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: Operative vaginal delivery is the use of forceps or vacuum devices to assist the eligible laboring mother to avoid poor birth outcomes. It is associated with increased maternal, neonatal morbidity and perinatal complications if it is not used appropriately. Instrumental delivery use needs health care providers’ skills, knowledge, and decision-making ability for good maternal outcomes. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess immediate unfavorable birth outcomes and associated factors of operative vaginal delivery among women delivered in East Gojjam Zone Public Hospitals, North West Ethiopia. METHOD: The study design was institution based cross-sectional and consecutive sampling procedure was used to select 313 mothers in the study, from March 1, 2019, to April 30, 2019. We used Epi data version 3.1 for data entry and SPSS version 25 software for cleaning and analysis. A Bivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify the association between each outcome variable and each factor. Again, a multivariable logistic regression analysis was employed to identify factors associated with each outcome variable, and variables with a p-value less than 0.05 were taken as significant variables. RESULTS: The overall unfavorable maternal outcomes of operative vaginal delivery were found to be 32.9% [95% CI: 27.8, 38.3]. No formal education (AOR = 8.36; 95% CI: 1.01, 69.2), rural residence (AOR: 11.77; 95% CI: 2.02, 68.41), male sex of the neonate (AOR: 2.87; 95% CI: 1.08, 7.61) and zero station during instrumental application (AOR: 6.93; 95% CI: 1.75, 27.5) were factors associated with unfavorable maternal outcomes. The study also showed that the magnitude of unfavorable neonatal outcomes was 34.8% (95% CI: 29.7, 40.3). Vaginal first-degree tear (AOR = 0.03, 95% CI: 0.001, 0.951) and blood transfusion (AOR = 7.38, 95% CI: 1.18–46.15) was statistically significant factors associated with unfavorable neonatal outcomes. CONCLUSION: The overall unfavorable maternal and neonatal outcomes of operative vaginal delivery were high compared with some other studies done in Ethiopia.