Frequency and severity of perineal tears in Countess Lady Duffrin Fund Hospital, Hyderabad

Objective: to observe the frequency and severity of perineal tears during vaginal delivery. methods: it was a prospective observational study done at the countess lady duffrin fund hospital, hyderabad, pakistan, from december 1, 2009 to may 31, 2010. women with full-term singleton pregnancy primigravida or multigravida, in active labour were included in the study. patients with pre-term labour, breech presentation and antepartum haemorrhage were excluded, leaving the study population to be 147/1488. a pre- designed structured proforma was used after informed verbal consent by the patient. all results were analysed on spss version 11. frequencies and percentages were calculated, while spearman's rho test (two-tailed) was applied for categorical variables. a p-value of less than or equal to 0.05 was considered significant. results: the frequency of perineal tears in our study was 147/1488 (9.8%). the mean age was 28.08±7.47, ranging between 17-42 years. the vast majority, 100 (68%) delivered spontaneously, 45 (30.6%) were delivered with help of the forceps, and only 2 (1.4%) had vacuum delivery. parity, oxytocin use, mediolateral episiotomy, forceps use, weight of babies>3.6kg were significantly associated with perineal tears. conclusion: perineal tears cause considerable post-natal morbidity. identification of risk factors, vigilant monitoring during labour and good perineal support is recommended for minimising the risk of perineal trauma as well as morbidity.