Factors associated with utilization of prenatal care - Payesh (Health Monitor)
Volume 5, Issue 1 (JANUARY 2006)                   Payesh 2006, 5(1): 0-0 | Back to browse issues page

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Abstract:   (5392 Views)
Objective (s): Estimating the mean number of visits of pregnant women to prenatal centers to use pregnancy cares in Tehran, Iran.
Methods: This a descriptive-analytic observational study, considering the number of visits of pregnant women to prenatal centers in Imamam Khomaini and Shahid Akbar-abadi hospital in Tehran, Iran. 200 women visited these two centers during September 2000 for the first time that all were followed up to their delivery and later visits were counted for each woman.
Results: Each pregnant woman had 9.7(±3.3) visits in average during their pregnancy until delivery. Of 200 women, only 28.5% had "enough number of visits". Correlation analysis identified  that the number of follow  up visits was related to age (at first) marriage (r=0.38, P =0.01), age at first delivery (r=0.37, P =0.01), number of previous pregnancies (r=0.32, P =0.01),  number of live birth {r=-0.37 P =0.01),  number of dead birth (r=-0.22, P =0.01), number of alive children (r=-0.36, P-value=0.01) and time interval from the last delivery (r=-0.24, P-value=O.O 1). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the number of follow up visits is also related to four factors, education level and job of the pregnant women and her husband. The illiterate women or women with elementary education had in average. 7.3(±1.9) visits while women with high school diploma had 14.6(±1.6). Employed pregnant women had (mean of) 13.9(±2.6) visits comparing with the housewife’s that had only 8.7(±2.7). The stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that in presence of all variables,  the best set of variables which are related to number of pregnant women's follow up visits are, educational level  of woman and her husband, age at first marriage, and job of the husband.
Conclusion: The middle socio-economic class women do not visit prenatal centers enough to take care of themselves during pregnancy. The best set of variables which are related to number of pregnant women's follow up visits are, educational level of woman and her husband, age at first marriage, and job of the husband.
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type of study: Descriptive |
Accepted: 2018/11/28 | Published: 2006/01/15

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