Birth Outcomes
Among all women giving birth in the study months (i.e. 1014 in August 2017 and 428 in November 2017), the stillbirth rate was 32.9 and 43.6 per 1000 total births, respectively (RR 0.76, 95% CI 0.44-1.32), of which 9.7 and 2.3 per 1000 total births occurred after admission to the hospital (RR 4.22 95% CI 0.54 – 32.84). The intrafacility neonatal death rate in the high- and low-volume month was 6.0 and 16.8 per 1000 live births (RR 0.36 95% CI 0.12-1.06). There were no maternal deaths in the study population (Table 3)
Among the offspring of the included women in the in-depth analyses (i.e. 250 vaginal births in each study month and all caesarean sections), there were comparable occurrence of low Apgar score between the months.