Alinaitwe Businge, Nkunzimaana Francis, Kato Charles, Uwimbabazi Rachel, Nakamya Petranilla, McCoy Molly, Kaplan Adam, Ayebare Elizabeth, Winter Jameel, Ngabirano Tom Denis
Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Clinical Epidemiology Unit, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Matern Health Neonatol Perinatol. 2025 Jul 1;11(1):17. doi: 10.1186/s40748-025-00214-x.
The neonatal period is the most vulnerable time for children under 5 years. Neonatal mortality contributes to almost one-half of all under-5 deaths. Developing one or more newborn danger signs increases the mortality risk in the first 28 days of life. Understanding maternal awareness of newborn danger signs is essential in promoting early newborn care-seeking for better outcomes. In Uganda, there is a paucity of evidence on maternal awareness of newborn danger signs (NDS) immediately after delivery. This study aimed to determine the level and factors associated with maternal awareness of NDS before discharge from the hospital.
This is a secondary analysis of baseline data from a hospital-based enhanced maternal education intervention conducted at a Tertiary Care and Teaching Hospital in Eastern Uganda. Maternal awareness of NDS was assessed by recording spontaneous maternal responses to the question, 'What are the danger signs of a newborn baby that you know? Women who mentioned ≥ 3 NDS were categorized as having a good awareness. Frequencies and percentages for all categorical variables were presented in tables and charts. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine the factors associated with awareness of NDS.
The baseline survey enrolled 250 post-natal women. Only 14.0% of the participants had a good awareness of NDS. High body temperature/fever (73.6%) and poor breastfeeding/or failure to breastfeed (38.8%) were the commonly identified NDS. Hypothermia, cord sepsis (0.4%), skin pustules (1.6%), and convulsions (4.6%) were the least identified NDS. Mode of delivery (p = 0.039) and maternal age (p = 0.032) were significantly associated with maternal awareness of NDS.
Maternal awareness of newborn danger signs in the immediate post-delivery period is poor. The women do not know the majority of the NDS, and therefore, these signs can go undetected, delaying care-seeking and posing a risk for poor infant outcomes. Routine postnatal health education should focus on these danger signs while ensuring that younger mothers and women who deliver by cesarean section are given special attention during knowledge enhancement sessions.
新生儿期是5岁以下儿童最脆弱的时期。新生儿死亡几乎占所有5岁以下儿童死亡人数的一半。出现一种或多种新生儿危险迹象会增加出生后28天内的死亡风险。了解母亲对新生儿危险迹象的认知对于促进早期新生儿就医以获得更好的结果至关重要。在乌干达，缺乏关于母亲在分娩后立即对新生儿危险迹象（NDS）认知的证据。本研究旨在确定出院前母亲对NDS的认知水平及相关因素。
这是对乌干达东部一家三级护理和教学医院开展的一项基于医院的强化孕产妇教育干预的基线数据进行的二次分析。通过记录母亲对“你知道的新生儿危险迹象有哪些？”这一问题的自发回答来评估母亲对NDS的认知。提及≥3种NDS的女性被归类为有良好认知。所有分类变量的频率和百分比以表格和图表形式呈现。采用二元逻辑回归分析来确定与NDS认知相关的因素。
基线调查纳入了250名产后妇女。只有14.0%的参与者对NDS有良好认知。体温过高/发烧（73.6%）和母乳喂养不佳/无法母乳喂养（38.8%）是最常被提及的NDS。体温过低、脐带败血症（0.4%）、皮肤脓疱（1.6%）和惊厥（4.6%）是最少被提及的NDS。分娩方式（p = 0.039）和母亲年龄（p = 0.032）与母亲对NDS的认知显著相关。
产后即刻母亲对新生儿危险迹象的认知较差。这些女性大多不了解NDS，因此这些迹象可能未被发现，延误就医并对婴儿不良结局构成风险。常规产后健康教育应关注这些危险迹象，同时确保在知识强化课程中特别关注年轻母亲和剖宫产的女性。
