Duration of hospital stay: A comparison of prophylactic single dose and multiple doses of amoxicillin-clavulanic acid in elective caesarean section in Bauchi, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: The mean duration of hospital stay due to infections following caesarean deliveries are important and substantial cause of maternal morbidity and increase the cost of treatment as the rate of caesarean section increases worldwide. Antibiotic prophylaxis has been shown to reduce surgical site infections and duration of hospital stay in caesarean section.

Objective: To determine the duration of patients’ stay in the hospital by comparing the effectiveness of single-dose and multiple-dose regimen of Augmentin for chemoprophylaxis in elective caesarean sections in Bauchi, Nigeria.

Methods: A randomized controlled study among 114 participants was conducted, in which participants were randomly allocated into Group I and Group II. Participants in Group I and II received a single intravenous dose of 1.2g Augmentin within 60 minutes of the procedure, then group II followed by 625mg
of Augmentin twice daily for 7 days. Both groups were followed for 30 days and were assessed for duration of hospital stay as primary outcome. Data were analysed using an independent student’s t-test using SPSS version 23.0 with a 5% alpha level of significance.

Result: The study showed that 83.9% of patients in group I and 81.8% of patients in group II had no prolonged hospital stay. However, 16.1% of patients in group I and 18.2% of patients in group II had prolonged hospital stay. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean duration of hospital stay between the two groups (p=0.89).

Conclusion: This study revealed no statistically significant difference in the mean duration of hospital stay (in days) between the two groups when a preoperative single dose of amoxicillin-clavulanic acid was compared with additional 7days course of prophylactic antibiotic following elective Caesarean section in Bauchi.