Prevalence of Postpartum maternal fever and associated factors among postnatal women at Kawempe National Referral Hospital

Abstract

Introduction Postpartum maternal fever is defined as body temperature of 38.0 degrees Celsius or higher taken in the first ten days after birth. Postpartum maternal fever is sometimes referred to as puerperal pyrexia or puerperal sepsis and also refers to maternal infections in the postpartum period. Generally, fever is one of the important signs of infections and can provide useful information for further assessment, diagnosis and management. Fever is usually among the first indicators of infection among postnatal women and it can present within 24 hours after birth. Therefore, early detection could reduce severe outcomes such as maternal mortality due to puerperal sepsis Objective To determine the prevalence of postpartum maternal fever and associated factors among postnatal women at Kawempe National Referral Hospital. Methodology This was a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study amon postnatal women at Kawempe National Referral Hospital. 300 women who had delivered within the last 10 days were recruited. A questionnaire was used to collect data together with the available medical records of the study participants. Data was entered in Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) computer software version 20.0 and bivariate analysis done to compute p-values and crude odds ratios. Multivariate analysis was done using a logistic regression model. Results The prevalence of maternal fever was 58/300 (19.3%). Multivariable analysis indicated that only four factors; HIV positive status (AOR=2.56; 95% CI= 1.02-6.37; p=0.045), labour complications (AOR = 6.53; 95% CI = 2.40-17.71 ;p = <0.001), prolonged labour (AOR=3.12; 95% CI=1.11,8.87; p=0.031) and more than 24 hours spent postpartum(AOR=5.16; 95%CI=2.19-12.16; p-value=<0.001) were found to be significantly associated with postpartum fever . Conclusion The prevalence of postpartum maternal fever among postnatal women at Kawempe National Referral Hospital is very high at 19.3%. The factors significantly associated with maternal fever were positive HIV status, complications during labour, prolonged labour and more than 24 hours spent postpartum. Therefore, midwives and other health workers involved in the provision of labour and obstetric services must ensure to prevent or manage these conditions in a timely manner in order to prevent poor maternal outcomes.