Perinatal Outcome Following Singleton Vaginal Breech Delivery in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar: A 10-Year Review

All the patients who had vaginal breech delivery at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar over a 10 year period were reviewed. The aim was to determine the incidence of breech delivery and evaluate the perinatal outcome following vaginal breech delivery. Relavant information was obtained from the case notes of patients who had vaginal breech delivery. The incidence of singleton breech delivery during the study period was 1.41% and 69.34% of these had vaginal breech delivery. The perinatal mortality rate was 158/1000 births. Majority of vaginal breech deliveries occurred in multiparous women (56.8%) and at term (61.1%). The perinatal outcome was worse in babies who weighed above 3.5kg (50.0%), in those born to multiparous women (57.4%) and in those delivered by senior registrars (50.0%). There is need for the involvement of consultant obstetricians in the antenatal evaluation of all patients with breech presentation. Monitoring during labour and conduct of delivery must be by an obstetrician experienced in the art of vaginal breech delivery. Vaginal breech delivery should become part of every labour ward fire drill and appropriate training sessions should be organized for all obstetric residents. Key Words: Perinatal outcome, vaginal breech delivery, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital Mary Slessor Journal of Medicine Vol.4(1) 2004: 81-8

Use of combined oral contraceptive pills among teenage girls in Calabar, Nigeria

Christopher U Iklaki,1 John E Inaku,2 John E Ekabua,1 Patience O Odusolu,1 Charles O Njoku11Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, NigeriaAbstract: The objective of this study was to find out about the use of combined oral contraceptive pills by women in Calabar, Nigeria, with a particular interest in single nulliparous teenage women. During the period from 2006 to 2010, a total of 1980 women seen in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital's family planning unit used various methods of contraception. Of these, 316 (15.96%) used combined oral contraceptive pills. Twenty girls aged between 13 and 19 years accounted for 6.3% of those who used combined oral contraceptive pills. There were 296 (93.6%) women between the ages of 20 and 34 years who accounted for the remaining users. Of these women, 195 (61.5%) were educated to the secondary level, and 34 (10.8%) were educated to primary level. No women without formal education used combined oral contraceptive pills during the period of study. The majority of the users were nulliparous (128; 40.4%); the rest had parity values of at least one to more than four. One hundred thirty-seven (43.4%) of the users were single, 112 (35.4%) were married, and the remaining 67 (21.1%) were separated, divorced, or widowed. There is a growing need to educate young Nigerian women about the use of combined oral contraceptive pills; this medication is suitable and effective for most young women, and it also has additional noncontraceptive health benefits.Keywords: combined, oral, contraception, pill