Changes in factors associated with prematurity after 5 months of politicalcrisis in Brazzaville.

A study was conducted in Brazzaville to evaluate how the recent five-month period of severe political crisis affected the risk of prematurity. During a four-month period preceding the crisis (January through April 1997) and a four-month period following the crisis (March through June 1998), 129 (gro up I) and 79 (group II) premature babies, respectively, were admitted to th e neonatology department of the Brazzaville Teaching Hospital These two gro ups were compared based on maternal characteristics (age, parity, number of prenatal visits, and frequency of multiple pregnancies) and on neonatal ch aracteristics (sex, birth weight, gestational age, place of birth, age at a dmission, and outcome). Maternal age distribution and the proportions of mo thers who received adequate prenatal care and who had multiple pregnancies were similar in the two groups, the proportion of mothers who already had o ne or two children was higher in group II (40% vs 56%; P<0.05). Neonates in the two groups were similar in terms of sex ratio, gestational age distrib ution, and age at admission. The proportion of babies with a birth weight b etween 1001 and 1500 g was significantly larger in group I (38% vs 22%; P<0 .05), whereas group II had more babies with a birth weight between 2001 and 2500 g (8% vs 24%; P<0.05). Significantly more infants were born at home i n group II than in group I (10% vs 2%; P<0.05). The mortality rate was comp arable in the two groups. Thus a few months after the social and political crisis that swept through Brazzaville, no profound changes in morbidity or mortality among premature babies admitted to the Brazzaville Teaching Hospi tal were detected.