Factors associated with unintended pregnancy in Ethiopia; further analysis of the 2016 Ethiopian demographic health survey data.

Abstract

Background Unintended pregnancy is an important public health problem in Ethiopia. It causes adverse physical, mental, social and economic outcomes. Identifying factors associated with unintended pregnancy may help to reduce unintended pregnancy and hence adverse outcomes. There are few studies about the prevalence and associated factors of unintended pregnancy in Ethiopia. But these studies were based on few sample size and fragmented. Therefore, this analysis was done to identify factors associated with unintended pregnancy in Ethiopia based on nationally representative data.Methods The study used the 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey data. The data was downloaded from The DHS program with permission. A total of 1135 women were included in the final model. Data was weighted to consider disproportionate sampling and non-response. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with unintended pregnancy among women.Result About 30% (95% CI: 25.33 -34.39) pregnancies were unintended. Married women (AOR; 0.034; 95% CI: 0.01- 0.14), woman living in developing regions (AOR; 0.14; 95% CI: 0.07- 0.27) and women who reported distance not a big problem to get medical care (AOR 0.59; 95% CI: 0.36 - 0.99) had lower odds of unintended pregnancy. On the other hand, multi-para (AOR; 3.77; 95% CI: 1.71 - 8.33), grand multi-para (AOR; 6.72; 95% CI: 2.74 - 16.49) women and women who ever used contraceptives (AOR; 1.86 95% CI: 1.06 - 3.26) had higher odds of unintended pregnancy.Conclusion Although high,the magnitude of unintended pregnancy in Ethiopia was lower compared to the global level. Marital status, region, perceived distance to seek medical care, parity and history of contraceptive use were found significant predictors of unintended pregnancy in Ethiopia.

Prevalence of unintended pregnancy and associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics

“…Furthermore, another finding revealed that more than half of pregnant women had three and more parities. This finding was in agreement with Bekele, [17] who found that increased parity more than were more likely to have unintended pregnancy.…”

“…Several studies in agreement with the current study finding who found that contraceptive failure was the major reason for UP followed by not using FP for mistimed pregnancy. [17] The present finding revealed that contraceptive failure was the main reason for UP. Most of the failure rate was due to using pill either combined or progesterone only, followed by intrauterine devices, natural methods, injectable, chemical and barrier methods.…”

“…[16] South Africa 64%. [17] Arsi Negele, Ethiopia 41.5%. [18] The differences among the various studies addressing the above-mentioned prevalence and the present one has been attributed to socio cultural and demographic differences, study design differences, use of FP methods, high prevalence of adolescent pregnancy and pregnancy in unmarried girls which is scarce in Egypt.…”

“…This is supported by Beyene [15] who stated that the risk of UP increased with increasing family size. In addition, Bekele [17] and Haffejee [12] reported that socially disadvantaged women with family size more than 5 members were 8 times more likely to have UP. These findings were in contrast with recent researches carried out by Ayele, [?…”