Timing and factors associated with first antenatal care booking among pregnant mothers in Gondar Town; North West Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundAntenatal care service which is among strategies to maintain maternal and fetal wellbeing is strongly recommended to be initiated early during pregnancy. To developing world where there is uncommon practice of pre-pregnancy care and support, timely commencement is crucial in getting potential benefits from some of the elements of the care. Therefore, we sought to assess timing and factors associated with the first antenatal care booking among pregnant mothers attending antenatal care clinics in Gondar town health facilities; North West Ethiopia.MethodsHealth institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among pregnant mothers from April to June 2012 in Gondar town. A total of 407 pregnant mothers were interviewed at exit from antenatal clinic by using structured and pre-tested questionnaire. Bivariate and multivariate data analysis was performed using SPSS for Windows version 16.0.ResultThe study indicated that 35.4% of mothers started antenatal care timely (in the first trimester of pregnancy). The mean time was 4.5 months (17.7 weeks) of pregnancy. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that: [(AOR (95% CI)) maternal age ≤ 25 (1.85 (1.10, 3.09)), age at marriage ≥20 years (2.21 (1.33, 3.68)), pregnancy recognition by urine test (2.29 (1.42, 3.71)), mothers who perceived the right time to start antenatal care within first trimester (3.93 (2.29, 6.75)) and having decision power to use antenatal care (2.43 (1.18, 4.99))] were significantly associated with timely commencement to antenatal care.ConclusionTimely entry to antenatal care was low in the study area. In order to improve the situation, it is important to provide community based information, education and communication on antenatal care and its right time of commencement. In addition, empowering women and implementing the proclamation designed for the age at marriage is mandatory up to the local level.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2393-14-287) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Determinants of Antenatal Healthcare Utilisation by Pregnant Women in Third Trimester in Peri-Urban Ghana

“…It can be inferred that the increase in ANC visits with increase in age could be attributed to the fact that better health education is given to pregnant mothers during antenatal care sessions. The finding is consistent with the study of O'Meara et al [45], Gudayu et al [46], and Rai et al [37] that household size of a pregnant mother significantly influences her ANC use.…”

Early Initiation of Antenatal Care and Factors Associated with Early Antenatal Care Initiation at Health Facilities in Southern Ethiopia

“…The timing of first booking ranged from first month after last menstrual period to ninth month of gestation. The proportion of women who came for their first ANC within recommended time is lower than studies done in Gondar, Addis Ababa, and higher than studies conducted in Hadiya, Kembata zone, Yem special district, and EDHS 2011 [4,13,[18][19][20][21]. Possible explanation for this might be those who have more proportion of early ANC due to better access and awareness regarding services while the lower proportion may be due to time variation in this study and the access and awareness improvement.…”

“…According to the result, mothers of age ≤ 25 years were found to be more likely to have early initiation of ANC when compared with others (COR = 1.309 95% CI 0.92, 2.458), but not significant. This idea was slightly supported by study done in Addis Ababa, Yem, Gondar, and Debrebrhan; this idea contradicts the study done in Tanzania (18)(19)(20)(21)8). This might be because younger mothers were more informed and convincible to seek appropriate prenatal care.…”

“…The standard of care when evaluating a woman with a potentially complicated firsttrimester pregnancy is to take a detailed history of the risk factors and ascertain the clinical course [18]. Educational status of the women and family income were independent factors for late initiation of ANC [19]. Pregnant mothers at younger age [20] register early for ANC compared to older age and younger women are more likely to accept modern health care as they are likely to have greater experience to modern medicine [21].…”

Late initiation of antenatal care and its determinants: a hospital based cross-sectional study

“…A study done in Ethiopia also reported almost similar result (17.7 weeks). 27 However, a previous study conducted in Myanmar reported much lower gestational age at first ANC (15 weeks) while those detected in Ethiopian and Tanzanian studies were more than 20 weeks. 14,18,24 These discrepancies may be due to differences in time or site of study or differences in education and/or socioeconomic status among study population.…”