KIU, Western Campus – Emma Gutaka is a dedicated healthcare practitioner who, of late, has dedicated most of his free time to research aimed at studying the factors relating to different health challenges faced by patients admitted at KIU Teaching Hospital.

The KIU Teaching Hospital Deputy Principal Nursing Officer’s latest publication is titled, “Factors Influencing Early Neonatal Adverse Outcomes among Women with HIV with Post Dated Pregnancies Delivering at Kampala International University Teaching Hospital, Uganda.”

 It was co-authored with Martin Odoki, Simon Peter Okello, Emmanuel Obeagu and Daniel Kavuma and was published in the Asian Journal of Pregnancy and Childbirth.

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors influencing early neonatal adverse outcomes among women with HIV with postdated pregnancies delivering at KIU Teaching Hospital.

The research noted that postdated pregnancies have been shown for centuries in several studies of having increased risk to the mother and their fetus, when compared to term pregnancies, with complications increasing with increase in gestational age beyond 40 weeks.

The neonatal (newborn) adverse outcome is defined as the occurrence of low birth weight, preterm delivery, low Apgar score (condition of the newborn infant immediately after birth) at first and fifth minutes after birth, early or late neonatal death, small in size for gestational age, and/or severe neonatal conditions.

A post-dated pregnancy is one that extends beyond 40 weeks from the first day of the last menstrual period.

The research involved 180 pregnant women admitted in labour in the maternity ward at KIU Teaching Hospital, who included all pregnant women with a gestational age of less than 40 weeks and between the ages of 18 and 44 years, and all participants consented to participate in the study.

The study concluded that with good antenatal care and multi-disciplinary approach, HIV-infected women can ensure quality care of mothers and newborns.

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