Maternal height and labour outcome.

The aim of this study was to assess if maternal height has an effect on duration of labour, mode of delivery and birth weight. This was a retrospective analysis of casenotes of 1000 white primigravidae in a district general hospital. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, logistic regression analysis, and Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine the relation between height and duration of labour, height and mode of delivery and birth weight, respectively. Odds ratio was used to quantify the association. There was no significant association between height and duration of labour. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between height and birth weight and a negative association between height and incidence of caesarean sections. A cut-off height of 160 cm is proposed as a screening tool to predict a need for caesarean section.