Factors influencing gestational age at antenatal booking at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

In order to achieve the aim of improved outcome of pregnancy for mother and fetus, early booking (first antenatal visit), prior to 14 weeks' gestation is usually recommended. A survey of information on personal data, index pregnancy, reasons for booking at a particular gestational age, past obstetric history and medical history of 205 pregnant women attending the antenatal booking clinic at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria was carried out using a structured questionnaire. The mean gestational age at booking was 21.82 (+/-7.0) weeks. Only 29 patients (14.1%) booked before 14 weeks. The reasons given for early booking among them were the perceived benefits of such practice (41.4%), physician's recommendation (34.5%) and occurrence of complication(s) in previous pregnancy (24.1%). Illness in the index pregnancy and nulliparity were the only factors found to significantly favour early booking. The need to educate women of the reproductive age group, who are potential mothers, on the benefits of early booking was recommended.

Previous utilization of service does not improve timely booking in antenatal care: Cross sectional study on timing of antenatal care booking at public health facilities in Addis Ababa

“…This finding is similar with the study conducted in Nigeria which suggests that pregnant women who were advised by physicians were booked timely (14). This suggested that proper information and advice on pattern of ANC utilization from service providers are important to book timely.…”

“…This finding is quite in line with the study done in South Africa which stated that unintended pregnancy is a factor for delays in seeking ANC (14). It is believed that, wanted pregnancies are more cared by the women and other significant individuals, which enables the women to book timely for ANC.…”

“…The reviewed literatures reported that, sociodemographic variables like maternal age, marital status, maternal education, occupation, ethnicity, religion, family income, residence, accessibility of service; obstetrics history like parity and mother's undesired child birth outcome; past experience of service like previous service utilization, perceived quality of service, cost of the service; awareness of care and pregnancy related complications; and other factors like influence of husband, wanted or unwanted pregnancy, unrecognized symptoms of pregnancy, and fear of parents were found to be predictors that either positively or negatively influence timing of ANC booking (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15).…”

Timing and reasons for antenatal care booking among women in a tertiary health care center in Southern Nigeria

“…This is lower than the mean gestational age at booking in Ibadan, Nigeria, Sagamu, Nigeria and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 8,11,16 However, most studies show a consistent high figure for late booking. 8,11 In Ethiopia, it was demonstrated that physical and financial accessibility was not enough to ensure proper utilisation of available health services; socio-cultural factors were also important in affecting utilisation.…”

“…8,9 This is critical to early identification and management of underlying medical or obstetrics conditions that may affect the outcome of pregnancy eg. anaemia, malaria, Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection, and cervical incompetence.…”