Estimating and comparing the trends of fertility pattern from various birth cohorts in rural hilly population of Uttarakhand

Abstract

Background: Nuptiality and fertility are often studied together because nuptiality affects fertility. If childbearing tends to be confined to married couples, as it is in many societies, higher proportion of women marrying will tend to higher fertility and vice versa. Population change may, therefore, be indirectly influenced by nuptiality.
Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate and compare the fertility status of women with age group of 17–86 years among seven different cohorts.
Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study conducted through predesigned questionnaire in the Dehradun district of Uttarakhand. The subjects of the study were the local residents of selected hilly rural areas of Dehradun. Women, who were ever married and unmarried, born in between 1931 and 2000. The study has been approved by the ethics committee of the university. Informed consent in the local language has been taken from subjects during filling predesigned questionnaire.
Results: The results of the study show trend in the home delivery have been observed to be declining with the respective birth cohorts. The trend in the data for the respective factors gravida and parity is observed to be decreasing at consecutive cohorts. The results also show differentials between gravida and parity according to religion. It shows that religion shows statistically significant between gravida and parity. The cohort 1931-1940 and 1971-1980 shows highly significant according to religion in gravida. In parity, cohort 1961-1970 and 1981-1990 also shows highly significant value according to religion.
Conclusion: The maternal health policies in developing countries such as India should be viewed as central goals together with achievement of MDG-5 targets. The enormous imbalances in maternity care underline the requirement for successful arrangement of administrations.