Grand Multiparity and Pregnancy Related Complications among Women Who Gave Birth at Jimma University Specialized Hospital, Jimma, Southwest Ethiopia

Introduction: The term ‘Grand-multiparity’ was introduced by Solomon (1934), who called it the “dangerous multipara” [1]. Since then grand multiparity has been considered as a risk factor for both mother and the fetus [1-4]. The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics define grand multiparity as delivery of the fifth or more newborn and in this study grand multiparity is defined when a pregnant woman have five or more births above the gestational age of 28 weeks [2]. The objective of this study is to compare maternal and perinatal outcome in grand multiparity and low parity. In developing countries grand multiparity is very common while in developed countries rare. Methods and materials: Prospective cross sectional comparative study was done in Jimma University specialized Hospital in 2015. Data was collected from119 grand multiparous (parity >= 5) and 238 low parity (parity2-4) women who gave birth in the hospital and data were analyzed by using statically package social science (spss) 20.3. p-value<0.05 considered significant. Result: There were 357 parous women participated in the study, among then 125 were grand multiparous making the incidence 8%. Grand multiparty was associated with anemia (3.5; 1.5-8.4), nonreassuring fetal condition intraparum (3.2; 1.3-8.0) and perinatal mortality (5; 1.7-7.4). Conclusion: Grand multiparty was associated both maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. Limiting parity might decrease both maternal and perinatal mortality and both at community and health facility family planning awareness should be made.