Abstract:
Background: Birth interval is time gaps between two consecutive life births. The optimal
inter birth interval until the next birthis at least 33months. It is the resting period that allows
the mother to have adequate time to recover from pregnancy. Recent research found that the
health of mothers and infants with the birth interval of 3 to 5 years safer than that of less than
three years. However, there is a paucity of information and scarce of studies addressing
determinants of in birth intervals in Eastern Ethiopia.
Objective: To identify determinants of inter-birth interval among married multiparous
mothers in Chinaksen woreda, Eastern Ethiopia from 15th April to 15th June 2019.
Methods: Community based unmatched Case-Control study was conducted from15th April
to 15th June 2019.Case were mothers with two subsequent birth interval of less than three
years and controls were mothers with two subsequent birth intervals between three and above
years. Simple random sampling technique was employed to select 438 (210 cases and 210
controls) study subjects. Pretested-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from
participants through face-to-face-interview. Data were entered into EpiData version 3.1 and
analyzed by SPSS version 24. Descriptive statistics were used to describe characteristics of
participants. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify determinants of
inter-birth interval. P value <0.05 was used to report significance.
Results: In this study; youth age groups (15-24 years)(AOR= 7.12, 95% CI:(2.99,16.93),
poorest wealth index (AOR:2.55, 95% CI (1.17–5.56),Mothers whose their husbands decide
about their contraceptive use (AOR=5.03, 95% CI:(1.70,14.89), didn‟t use contraceptives
betweem two birth (AOR=7.81, 95% CI: (4.57, 13.33)), home delivery of index child(AOR=
2.03, 95% CI: (1.21-3.42)) and female index child(AOR=2.43, 95% CI: (1.49, 3.97))were
significant associated with inter-birth interval.
Conclusions: In this study, being in the age of youth(15-24)years , poorest wealth index,
husband‟s decision maker on birth interval ,did‟t use contraceptive between two birth , home
delivery of index child and female sex of index child were significant determinants of short
inter birth interval.
