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.