Sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics of women by experience of vaginal examination
| Experienced one or more vaginal examinations (n=1430) | Did not experience a vaginal examination (n=586) | Total (n=2016) | |
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | |
| Maternal age (years)* | |||
| 15–19 | 159 (11.1) | 115 (19.6) | 274 (13.6) |
| 20–29 | 705 (49.3) | 304 (51.9) | 1009 (50.1) |
| ≥30 | 566 (39.6) | 167 (28.5) | 733 (36.4) |
| Marital status | |||
| Single | 136 (9.5) | 69 (11.8) | 205 (10.2) |
| Currently married/cohabitating | 1251 (87.5) | 505 (86.2) | 1756 (87.1) |
| Other | 43 (3.0) | 12 (2.0) | 55 (2.7) |
| Education* | |||
| No education | 199 (13.9) | 172 (29.4) | 371 (18.4) |
| Some primary | 134 (9.4) | 80 (13.7) | 214 (10.6) |
| Some secondary | 389 (27.2) | 128 (21.8) | 517 (25.6) |
| Complete secondary | 396 (27.7) | 130 (22.2) | 526 (26.1) |
| Complete tertiary | 273 (19.1) | 57 (9.7) | 330 (16.4) |
| Vocational/other/unknown | 39 (2.7) | 19 (3.2) | 58 (2.9) |
| Number of previous births (index included) | |||
| 1 | 525 (36.7) | 220 (37.5) | 745 (36.9) |
| 2 | 378 (26.4) | 138 (23.6) | 516 (25.6) |
| 3 | 244 (17.1) | 84 (14.3) | 328 (16.3) |
| 4 | 275 (19.2) | 143 (24.4) | 418 (20.7) |
| Unknown | 8 (0.6) | 1 (0.2) | 9 (0.5) |
| Curtains during labour | |||
| Yes | 789 (55.2) | 325 (55.5) | 1114 (53.3) |
| No | 593 (41.5) | 240 (41.0) | 833 (41.3) |
| Unknown | 48 (3.4) | 21 (3.6) | 69 (3.4) |
| Duration of observation | |||
| Mean (SD) in hours | 6.7 (6.1) | 5.2 (5.8) | 6.3 (6.0) |
| Median (IQR) in hours | 5.5 (3.9–8.5) | 4.8 (3.6–6.8) | 5.2 (3.8–8.0) |
| Mode of birth | |||
| Vaginal birth | 1189 (83.1) | 491 (83.8) | 1680 (83.3) |
| Caesarean birth | 190 (13.3) | 71 (12.1) | 261 (12.9) |
| Other/unknown | 51 (3.6) | 24 (4.1) | 75 (3.7) |
| Birth companion* | |||
| Yes | 112 (7.8) | 14 (2.4) | 126 (6.2) |
| No | 1318 (92.2) | 572 (97.6) | 1890 (93.8) |
*P value <0.005.
IQR, Interquartile range; SD, Standard Deviation.