Prevalence of home delivery and associated factors in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract BackgroundGlobally, maternal morbidity and mortality remained a major public health challenge. Delivering at home is associated with a higher risk of maternal deaths. Findings on the prevalence and associated factors of home delivery are highly variable and inconsistent across Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the pooled prevalence of home delivery and its associated factors in Ethiopia.MethodPreferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline was followed. The databases used were; PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, African Journals Online, Ethiopian's university research repository online library, and manual searching. The search was further limited to studies conducted in Ethiopia and reported in English. Two authors independently extracted all necessary data using a standardized data extraction format. STATA 11 software was used to analyze the data. The Cochrane Q and I2 test were used to assess the heterogeneity of studies. The pooled estimate prevalence and the odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were computed by a random effect model.ResultA total of 13 studies were included in this meta-analysis with a sample size of 13,535. The national pooled prevalence of home delivery was 48.53 % (95% CI:35, 62). The pooled adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of home delivery for Place of rural residence was 4.3(AOR = 4.3; 95% CI 2.7, 6.8), husband preference was 5(AOR=5.1 95%CI:1.1, 22), not having ANC follows up was 3.3(AOR= 3.3,95%CI:2,6), Women who cannot read & write was 4(AOR=4.36,95% CI:3.1, 6.12), Primary level was 4(AOR=4.21, 95%CI:1.5, 11.6) ,and secondary & above was 1.9(AOR=1.9,95%CI:1.1, 3.45), distance from the health facility was 7(AOR= 7.33, 95%CI:5.75, 9.35), age of mothers 15-24 was 4(AOR =3.7,95%CI:2, 6.6), knowledge of danger sign of pregnancy was 4(AOR=4.60 95%CI:3, 6.8), and no media access was 3.4(AOR=3.495%CI: 1.5, 7.5).ConclusionThis systematic review and meta-analysis showed that home delivery was high in Ethiopia. Place of residence, husband preference, no having ANC follows up, educational status of mothers, distance from health facility, age of mothers, knowledge of danger sign of pregnancy, and no media access increased the risk of home delivery.