Are women with fistulas from obstructed labour shorter than those who have had a normal delivery?

Are women with obstetric fistula shorter that those who had a vaginal delivery?

Status

Recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12617001072303

Enrollment

500

Registered

2017-07-24

Start date

2013-12-16

Completion date

2018-12-31

Last updated

2018-08-20

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

Vesico-vaginal fistula secondary to obstructed labour is very prevalent in resource-poor settings where obstetric care is unavailable. In Uganda it is estimated that 2.6% of reproductive age women have symptoms of fistula (Uganda Bureau of Statistics 2002). The identification of risk factors for the development of vesico-vaginal fistula in pregnant women is critical. If a woman could be identified as high risk prior to labour, then her health care workers could initiate appropriate management plans for her labour and potentially avoid the development of a fistula. While previously published studies have documented that short women are at a higher risk of developing vesico-vaginal fistula in labour, these studies have all compared the fistula women who are usually from regional areas, with the average height of women nationwide which is usually obtained from cohorts of city women. These cohorts are likely to have better nutrition and living conditions and may not represent the average height of women living in more regional and remote areas. There are no comparisons of the heights of fistula women with women living in the same regions who have delivered without fistula. This study proposes to measure the heights of women undergoing fistula surgery at Kagando hospital, Uganda, and comparing the heights with women at Kagando hospital and St Paul’s Health Centre who have delivered without fistula. This non-fistula cohort will include women who present for prolapse repair and women who have a normal delivery in the hospital obstetric unit. The heights of all the fistula women and cohort women are measured routinely at the hospital and are readily available without any additional imposition on these women.

Interventions

Obstetric fistula is due to prolonged obstructed labour causing pressure necrosis in the maternal genital tract and surrounding organs, in particular the lower urinary tract and anorectum. Women with fistulas have an abnormal communication between the vagina and urethra/bladder and/or anorectum. These women leak urine continuously and/or faeces through the vagina. The height measurement is a once of at time of hospital admission. This is routine done on admission for all patients. Measurement of height in women on admission to hospital - for women to birth suite who had normal deliveries and women attending the hospital with gynaecological conditions and have had normal deliveries. Measurement of height in women with obstetric fistulas.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

14 Years to 80 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

All women who have had a vaginal delivery without obstructed labour - attending the hospital during recruitment period. All women attending the hospital with an obstetric fistula during recruitment period.

Exclusion criteria

Women who have not had a vaginal delivery Women who refuse to participate Women with cultural/religious beliefs precluding recruitment

Outcome results