Instrumental vaginal delivery in bauchi, northeast Nigeria

Instrumental vaginal delivery is an important procedure which can be used as an alternative to caesarean section when indicated and thus reduce the caesarean section rate. There is a need to maintain and improve the skills for this procedure through training and research in order to improve the benefits for both mothers and their babies.

To determine the incidence and indications of instrumental vaginal delivery and to compare the foetal and maternal outcome of vacuum and forceps deliveries.

This was a retrospective study on instrumental vaginal deliveries carried out between June 2009 and May 2011. The hospital records of all the patients who had had vacuum or forceps delivery were obtained and data on age, parity, booking status, and type of procedure performed, APGAR scores of babies delivered and complications were entered into a proforma and analyzed using SPSS software for Windows version 16.0.

The rate of instrumental vaginal deliveries in this study was 0.69% of all deliveries. The rates were 0.54% and 0.15% for vacuum and forceps deliveries respectively. There was statistically significant difference in terms of APGAR scores ≤6 at 5 minutes and maternal complications between the two groups as the p-value was 0.000. There was no statistically significant difference with respect to booking status and parity of patients between the two groups as the p-values were 0.073 and 0.976.

The rate of instrumental vaginal deliveries in this institution is low and indications for the procedure are similar to those found elsewhere. There is statistically significant difference in terms of foetal and maternal outcomes between those who had forceps delivery and those who had vacuum delivery.