Post-partum urinary retention in a teaching hospital in southwestern Nigeria

This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of post-partum urinary retention after vaginal delivery and to examine the associated risk factors.

This was a prospective observational study carried out over a 2-month period at the major university teaching hospital in southwestern Nigeria.

Prevalence of post-partum urinary retention was 29.4%. The majority (93.3%) of women had covert urinary retention while 6.7% had overt urinary retention. From the bivariate analysis, episiotomy, reduced voiding desire and primiparity were risk factors for post-partum urinary retention (66.6% vs 30.6%; P = 0.017; 47.75% vs 13.9%; P = 0.037; and 60.0% vs 30.6%; P = 0.05; respectively).

Post-partum urinary retention, particularly covert retention, is a common complication of labor and delivery in our clinical practice but is rarely reported in the published work, especially from this part of the world. No factor has been found to be independently associated with its occurrence, hence there is need for vigilance in the immediate post-partum period as most cases of urinary retention would have been avoided if women were encouraged to void early following delivery.