Abstract

Premature rupture of membrane is the most frequent cause of low birth weight infant delivery which increase the maternal and fetal morbidity and perinatal mortality. A retrospective case-control study was performed on 315 mothers who delivered low birth weight infants(< or = 2.5kg) with premature rupture of membrane and as control group 546 mothers who delivered normal birth weight infants(2.9-3.7kg) without premature rupture of membrane were chosen. The results obtained from this study were as follows: 1. The proportion of low birth weight infants due to premature rupture of membrane among all low birth weight infant deliveries was 14.5%, and this is equivalent to 1.1% among all deliveries. 2. The most significant maternal risk factor of low birth weight infant deliveries with premature rupture of membrane was infections on vagina, cervix and uterus during pregnancy. Compared with control, adjusted odds ratio was 7.61(95% confidence interval(CI) 1.88-30.88, p=0.004). Other significant maternal risk factors were the history of induced abortion, spontaneous abortion, and the experience of premature delivery. The risk ratios were 1.82, 2.07, 4.42, respectively. 3. Breech presentation did increase the risk of low birth weight infant delivery with infant delivery with premature rupture of membrane against control(Adjusted odds ratio=2.66, 95% CI 1.35-5.26, p=0.005). 4. Mothers who had not taken antenatal care were having higher risk of low birth weight infant delivery with premature rupture of membrane against control(Adjusted odds ratio=1.73, 95% CI 1.35-5.26, p=0.004). These study results show that maternal factors such as the infection of genital organs during pregnancy, the history of induced abortion and breech presentation are significantly associated with the premature rupture of membrane in the low birth weight deliveries, and that most of these risk factors are controllable ones through proper antenatal cares.