Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the factors associated with the non-attendance at a minimum of eight antenatal contacts (ANCs).
Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was carried out between 1st March and 31st May 2021. All parturients who attended at a minimum of one ANC were recruited. The main variables recorded included maternal age and parity, educational level, marital status, partner’s educational level, monthly income, gestational age at booking and at delivery, total number of ANCs and antenatal care provider. Variables of women with ˂8 ANCs were compared to those of women with ≥8 ANCs. Fisher exact test, t-test and logistic regression were used for comparison. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: Of 458 women, 38 (8.3%) attended at ≥8 ANCs. The factors associated with the attendance at ˂8 ANCs were pregnancy followed up by a nurse (aOR 6.56, 95%CI 1.30-33.04, P=0.023), booking after 16 weeks of gestation (aOR 5.79, 95%CI 2.08-16.09, P ˂0.001), very low monthly income (aOR 3.54, 95%CI 1.71-7.32, P ˂0.001) and partner’s educational level ˂ university (aOR 2.86, 95%CI 1.01-8.12, P=0.048).
Conclusion: The magnitude of these factors should be reduced if we want to increase the proportion of pregnant women who attended at eight ANCs or more.
Keywords: Attendance at less than eight antenatal contacts: Booking after sixteen weeks of gestation; Pregnancies followed up by a nurse; Very low monthly income.