Risk Factors Associated with the Occurrence of Premature Delivery at Al- Maqassed Hospital Between 2000-2002

Newborns are considered to be premature if they are born before 37 weeks old. The neonatal period is the period of the greatest mortality rate in childhood, and the highest risk occurs during the first 24 hours. Factors affecting gestational period and delivery, as well as the post-natal period, have a major impact on the health of both the fetus and neonate (Augusta Victoria Hospital study – 1994. In this study we targeted the Al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem district. About 215 premature babies were surveyed between January 2000 and December 2002. The study sample was selected from labor ward, all premature babies who were born at Al-Makassed Hospital from five areas of West bank (east, west, north, south and middle). All participants filled out a questionnaire through telephone interviews. The main results of this study are the following: 1. About 60.9% of the total sample is from Jerusalem, 10.7% is from south and 22.8% is from north. 2. This study showed that 67.4% of the women who had premature babies are from 36 to 43 years old, 31.2% of them between 19 to 35 years, and 1.4% around 18 years old. 3. There were some variations in this study related to the number of family members. Half of the women who had premature babies have 3-5 members, 34.4% 6-8 members, and 19.5% 9-11 members in the family. 4. This study also showed that the women who delivered premature babies, approximately 40% of them have a Tawjihi degree, about 31.2% have a secondary degree, 20% have a university degree and 8.8% have a primary degree. 5. About 90.7% of the women who had premature babies don’t have a job and 8.4% have a job. 6. Some variations were found in results related to the child spacing period. 44.2% had one year spacing, 32.6% had two years spacing period, 8.8% had three years spacing period, and 5.1% had four years spacing. 7. About 88.8% of the mothers who had premature babies, their husband were the only financial provider in the family. 8. There were some variations in this study related to having loans, around 30% of the women took loans, and around 19% of the women sold home assets. 9. Some results indicated that there was low percentage of smoking among the women who had premature babies (4%); this is probably due to cultural attitudes towards smoking of the females, about 59% of the women who had premature babies had someone in the house that smoked; this is probably due to mal-information about the effect of passive smoking which might be a risk factor for having premature baby.