Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Glob. Womens Health
Sec. Maternal Health
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2024.1431876

Late Initiation of Antenatal Care and Associated Factors among Pregnant Wome n Attending Antenatal Clinic at Hiwot Fana Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Eastern Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study

Provisionally accepted
Shambel Nigussie Shambel Nigussie *Bayisa Dibaba Bayisa Dibaba Miressa Bekena Miressa Bekena Tariku Dingeta Tariku Dingeta Eyobel Amentie Eyobel Amentie Habtamu Bekele Habtamu Bekele
  • College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Late initiation of antenatal care is a major public health concern. If the women initiate ANC late, they do not get adequate care, and the chance of detecting pregnancy related complications at an early stage is low. However, there is a lack of data related to the initiation of antenatal care in the study area.To assess the magnitude of late initiation of antenatal care and associated factors among pregnant women who attend antenatal care at Hiwot Fana Comprehensive Specialised Hospital, Eastern Ethiopia.Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted among 454 pregnant women. All study participants during study period were included to the study. Data was collected by face-to-face interview. Data was entered into Epi Data v-4.3 and analysed using SPSS V-22 software. The results were presented using texts and tables. Logistic regression with the 95% CI was used to identify factors associated with the late initiation of antenatal care.Statistical significance was declared at P<0.05.The prevalence of late-initiation antenatal care in this study was 59.5% (95% CI (54.6, 63.4)). Age of 30 to 34 years (AOR; 2.7, 95% CI: 1.69,13.1) and ≥ 35 years (AOR; 4.2, 95% CI:1.92, 9.84), rural residency (AOR; 2.92. 95% CI: 1.59, 5.39), unplanned pregnancy (AOR; 2.3, 95% CI: 1. 35 ,8.11), in ability to make decision to start ANC (AOR: 2.14, 95% CI: 1.18, 3.89), multigravidity (AOR; 1.9, 95% CI: 1.13, 12.4), wrong perception on the time of antenatal care initiation (AOR: 5.8, 95% CI: 3.71, 9.34), lack of previous ANC Experience (AOR; 2.01, 95% CI: 1.14, 5.81) and more than 10 km distance from the hospital (AOR; 1.36, 95% CI: 0.62, 2.95) were associated with late initiation antenatal care in this study. most of study participants were initiated ANC after the 12th weeks of gestation. Moreover, rural residence, unplanned pregnancy, age ≥30 years, lack of previous antenatal care, inability to make decisions, and wrong perception on the time of initiation of ANC were found to be associated with late initiation of ANC. Educating women and involving partners and family members in discussions about ANC were recommended to build a supportive environment for pregnant mothers.

    Keywords: late initiation, Pregnant Women, Antenatal care, Harar, Ethiopia

    Received: 13 May 2024; Accepted: 04 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Nigussie, Dibaba, Bekena, Dingeta, Amentie and Bekele. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Shambel Nigussie, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.