Abstract

There is a relationship between adverse pregnancy outcome and low socio demographic status. However, maternal age alone is capable of affecting pregnancy outcome for both mothers and their newborn. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of socio- demographic status and maternal age on perinatal outcome in women who delivered in Omdurman Maternity Hospital (a major maternity unit in Sudan with over 30 thousand deliveries per year). A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted in Omdurman Maternity Hospital. A sample of 384 pregnant women (<20, 20-30, >35 years old), attending the hospital for delivery were chosen (50% from the public section and 50% from private suites). Data were obtained by interviewing mothers using a specifically pre-coded and pre-tested designed questionnaire, and checklist for socio-demographic factors (residence, region, housing, level of education, occupation, husband’s education, husband’s occupation and family income). The association of explanatory variables with dependent variable was examined using binary logistic regression models. Mothers with low socio-demographic status and advanced maternal age had significantly higher rates of complications compared to those with high income, 3.165, CI 95% (1.249-8.022). This is statistically significant with P value of 0.015<0.05. Socio-economic status and maternal age play an important role on maternal and prenatal adverse outcomes. Improving socioeconomic factors such as having better life standards (occupation, family income and housing), attaining higher levels of education and health education, could help decrease the adverse outcomes on mothers and neonates.

Key words: Adolescent mothers, elderly mothers, socio-demographic factors, adverse outcomes.