WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Iman Idriss Yaseen* MBChB FIBMS/FM, Reyad Ebraheem Hussien MBChB CABP, Zakariya Zuhair Al Hayali MBChB CABP

ABSTRACT

Background & Objective: Birth asphyxia is a severe worldwide medical challenge responsible for high rates of neonatal mortality and long-term neurodevelopmental sequelae. This study aimed to determine the precise frequency of birth asphyxia within the Neonatal Care Unit (NCU) of Al-Khansaa Maternity and Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Mosul, Iraq, and to systematically identify the key maternal, fetal, and intrapartum predisposing factors driving this condition. Methods: A prospective case series design was implemented from March 1st to June 30th, 2013. The study monitored 200 neonates admitted to the NCU during randomly assigned operational intervals. Clinical diagnosis of birth asphyxia was systematically evaluated using neonatal depression parameters, specifically established as an Apgar score < 4 at 5 minutes of life as verified by supervising neonatologists. Comprehensive statistical evaluations including Independent t-tests, Chi-square tests, and Fisher's exact tests were executed via Minitab v16 to analyze risk associations. Results: Out of the 200 monitored neonatal admissions, 34 infants met the strict criteria for birth asphyxia, representing a localized institutional frequency of 17.0%. Bivariate statistical analytical tests identified highly significant correlations between the clinical manifestation of birth asphyxia and maternal anemia (p = 0.035, mean maternal Hb 11.41 ± 1.26 vs. 11.75 ± 0.79 g/dL; p = 0.042), maternal pregnancy-induced toxemia (PET) (p = 0.016), mechanical obstructed labor (p < 0.001), and a prolonged second stage of labor (p = 0.002). Conversely, no statistically significant correlations were demonstrated between birth asphyxia and neonatal biological sex (p = 0.149), structural gestational age (p = 0.180), absolute birth weight (p = 0.806), maternal age (p = 0.530), parity (p = 0.973), geographic residence, or parental educational attainments. Conclusions: The high institutional frequency of birth asphyxia in this series underscores critical operational deficits in regional intrapartum management. Mechanical obstructed labor, maternal toxemia, and severe gestational anemia comprise the primary targets for preventive intervention. Enhancing structured antenatal surveillance, promoting institutional access for high-risk gestations, and deploying standardized neonatal cardiotocography (CTG) along with resuscitation infrastructure are strongly recommended to mitigate regional perinatal. indices.

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