Spectrum of grand multiparity

This prospective research of comparing the outcome of the grand multipara women with that of non grand multipara was conducted in one of the tertiary health care centres and teaching hospitals of southern Karnataka. The study sample comprised of 100 grand multipara women and 100 non grand multipara women who were admitted to the maternity unit during the period from June 1996 to May 1997. Most of the grandmultipara women belonged to the age group of 26 to 35 years. 87% of the non grandmultipara women were illiterate, and 59% of the grand multipara women had haemoglobin levels which were less than 10 gm%. Out of 11 cases of antepartum haemorrhage, 3 had placenta previa and 8 had abruption of the placenta. 21 patients of the grand multipara group had pregnancy induced hypertension, and 2 of the grand multiparas had pre-eclamptic toxaemia (PET). 90% of the grand multipara women and 86% of the non grand multipara women had normal vaginal deliveries. 29% of the babies of the grand multipara women weighed less than 2.5 kg and a maximum number of babies of both the grand multipara and the non grand multipara women weighed between 2.6 to 3.5 kg. There were 12 still births among the grand multiparas and two among the non grand multipara women. 12 among the grand multipara women had post partum haemorrhage (PPH), while only 4 of the non grand multiparas had PPH.