American Journal of Clinical Medicine Research, 2014, Vol. 2, No. 4, 79-83 Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajcmr/2/4/4 © Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/ajcmr-2-4-4 Yearly Trends in Fetal Macrosomia among Hospital Births in Enugu, South East Nigeria Iyoke CA 1,* , Lawani OL 2 , Ugwu GO 1 , Ezugwu FO 3 , Ilechukwu GC 4 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku- Ozalla, Enugu 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki 3 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Park Lane, Enugu 4 Department of Paediatrics, Whiston Hospital, St Helen’s and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Prescot, United Kingdom *Corresponding author: caiyoke@yahoo.co.uk Received August 17, 2014; Revised August 24, 2014; Accepted August 27, 2014 Abstract Fetalmacrosomia is associated with higher risks of maternal and neonatal complications and with health risks in adulthood. Trends in fetal macrosomia could indicate fetal growth patterns and its knowledge could be useful for prenatalcare and maternal health education. The objective of the study was to describe the yearly trends in the prevalence of fetal macrosomia among singleton live term hospital births in Enugu, South East Nigeria. Routinely collected delivery data of three major maternity centres in Enugu were reviewed for the period January 2003 to December 2013. All singleton term live births that took place at the three centres during the study period were analysed and the yearly prevalences of fetal macrosomia were determined. Statistical analysis involved descriptive and inferential statistics at 95% level of confidence. A total of 22,628 singleton live term deliveries were studied. There were 2116 births of macrosomic babies giving a prevalence rate of 9.3% of singleton term deliveries. The mean weight of all macrosomic babies was 4.42kg ± 0.38. The prevalence rates of macrosomia showed a small, but significant decreasing trend over the period of study. The likelihood of fetal macrosomia was increased by male births (aOR 1.64, 95% confidence interval [C.I.] 1.10, 3.20); postdate births (aOR 2.1, 95% C.I. 1.4, 4.1) and multiparity (aOR 8.0, 95% C.I. 3.2, 16.4). It was concluded that there was a decreasing trend in the prevalence of fetal macrosomia in the study centres,and factors such as the prevalences of male births, postdate pregnancies and multiparity could have influenced this, at least in part. However, population based studies incorporating prenatal weight and medical complication data would be needed to establish the factors responsible for the actual trend in macrosomic births in the general population in this area. Keywords: fetal macrosomia, trend, birth weight, prevalence, Nigeria Cite This Article: Iyoke CA, Lawani OL, Ugwu GO, Ezugwu FO, and Ilechukwu GC, “Yearly Trends in Fetal Macrosomia among Hospital Births in Enugu, South East Nigeria.” American Journal of Clinical Medicine Research, vol. 2, no. 4 (2014): 79-83. doi: 10.12691/ajcmr-2-4-4. 1. Introduction Fetal macrosomia, defined as birth weight greater than or equal to 4kg, has been associated with increased maternal and fetal complications during delivery [1]. These complications include low Apgar scores, birth injuries, fresh stillbirths, shoulder dystocia, prolonged labour, obstructed labour, uterine rupture genital tract lacerations and postpartum haemorrhage [1,2,3,4]. Maternal risk factors for macrosomia include advancing maternal age, high parity, maternal obesity, diabetes in pregnancy, previous history of macrosomia, maternal tall height, and excessive pregnancy weight gain while fetal risk factors include postdatism, male sex [1,2,3,4]. Reports show that the trends in the prevalence of fetal macrosomia vary across different regions of the world with contrasting trends in the occurrence of macrosomia reported from the USA, Asia and Europe. A decreasing trend in fetal macrosomia in the USA has been ascribed to decrease in fetal growth [5]. However, a report from Sweden indicatedan increase in fetal macrosomia which was attributed to increases in maternal body mass indices and decrease in smoking among pregnant women [6]. Similarly a studyfrom China showed an increase in macrosomia due to increase in net gestational weight gain [7]. Although several studies from our area have demonstrated increased feto-maternal complications in births involving macrosomic babies [8,9,10], we found no studies on the trends in the prevalence of fetal macrosomia in South East Nigeria. The aim of this study was to describe the temporal trends in the prevalence of fetal macrosomia among singleton term hospital births in Enugu, South East Nigeria in the last decade. 2. Methodology The study centres included two teaching hospitals in Enugu namely the University of Nigeria Teaching hospital Ituku-Ozalla, and the Enugu State University Teaching