Antenatal care dropout and associated factors among mothers delivering in public health facilities of Dire Dawa Town, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction More than two-thirds of the pregnant women in Africa have at least one antenatal care contact with a health care provider. However, to achieve the full life-saving potential that antenatal care promises for women and babies, four visits providing essential evidence-based interventions – a package often called focused antenatal care are required. Hence, identifying the factors associated with dropout of maternal health care utilization would have meaningful implications. The study aimed to assess antenatal care dropout and associated factors among mothers delivering in the public health facilities of Dire Dawa town, Ethiopia. Methods Facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from January 1 to 30, 2020. Proportionate sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 230 women. Data were collected using a structured and pretested interview administered questionnaire during delivery. The data were entered into Epidata version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 20. A binary logistic regression model with a 95 % confidence interval was used to analyze the results. Bivariable analysis (COR [crude odds ratio]) and multivariable analysis (AOR [adjusted odds ratio]) was used to analyze the results. From the bivariable analysis, variables with a p-value < 0.25 were entered into the multivariable logistic regression analysis. From the multivariable logistic regression analysis, variables with a significance level of p-value < 0.05 were taken as factors independently associated with ANC dropout. Result The proportion of antenatal care dropouts was 86 (37.4 %) (95 % CI: 31.3–43.9). In logistic regression analyses, those who had no past antenatal care follow up were more likely to have ANC dropout (AOR = 7.89; 95 % CI: 2.109–29.498) and those who had no professional advice were more likely to have antenatal care dropout (AOR = 4.64 95 % CI: 1.246–17.254). Conclusions This study indicates that a high number of women had antenatal care dropout. Having no past ANC follow-up and professional advice were the major factors of ANC service utilization dropout. Hence, giving more information during the ANC visit is important to reduce the dropout rate from the maternity continuum of care.

More Than One-Third of Pregnant Women in Ethiopia Had Dropped Out From Their ANC Follow-Up: Evidence From the 2019 Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey

“…Pregnant women of higher age were at lower odds of ANC dropout. This finding is similar to the result from a previous study ( 27 ) and this might be explained by the fact that women of higher age are more likely to have the autonomy in healthcare decision-making that enables them to decide for receiving the care by themselves, which, in turn, increases the chance of pregnant women to use ANC services. This implies that early age at marriage also adversely affects ANC utilization.…”

Antenatal Care Dropout and Associated Factors in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The included studies publication year ranged from 2020 to 2022. The two from Amhara [12, 13], one from Tigray [10] and one from Oromia [15] regions and three of them were nationwide studies[5, 11, 14] based on Ethiopian demographic and health survey data. All studies were cross-sectional studies and have a low risk of bias (Table 1).…”

“…This systematic review and meta-analysis had two outcomes (antenatal care services dropout and its associated factor) in Ethiopia. Antenatal care services dropout was considered when the pregnant mothers did not complete full recommended visit during their pregnancy (a minimum of 4 visits for normal pregnancy) [10-13, 15, 20].…”

“…The results also indicate that women who had no educational level were about 1.79 more likely to dropout from ANC compared to those women who have secondary and above educational level (AOR=1.79, 95%CI= 1.37, 2.21) (Fig 9). Overall, DL (I 2 = 0.0%, p = 0.981) Finally, the effect of age group on the antenatal care dropout was assessed by using two studies [14,15], and the likelihoods of antenatal care services dropout were 43% (AOR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.26, 0.88) lower among the pregnant women aged 30-49 years as compared with the pregnant women aged 15-29 years (Fig 9).…”

“…In Ethiopia different studies conducted on the prevalence of ANC dropout and lies between 33.39% [10] to 56.49% [11]. Different factors affect the dropout of ANC services utilization were Being far distance, Not developing a pregnancy danger sign, Not satisfied in ANC service, Having no formal education, employment status, marital status, Didn't informed about institutional delivery, place of residence, age group, current pregnancy planned/supported, presence of professional advice during ANC visit [5,6,[10][11][12][13][14][15].…”