an examination of the role of antenatal care attendance in ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

suggest that low birth weight and infant mortality are more prevalent among mothers making no or fewer antenatal visits. Researchers argue that given high levels of infant and maternal mortality and morbidity there is a need for adequate antenatal care during pregnancy. These studies demonstrate that women with adequate antenatal care are less likely to have increased risks of maternal mortality, morbidity and infant mortality (AbouZahr 1998; Mekonnen and Mekonnen 2002; WHO 2005). Others have demonstrated the association between the lack of antenatal care and adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as low birth weights, premature delivery, untreated sexual transmitted infections and others (Magadi, et al. 2000). The study shows that low birth weights, premature deliveries and untreated sexual transmitted disease are more prevalent in women with no or less than adequate antenatal care. The effect of antenatal care on birth outcomes is also applicable to developed countries. A study conducted in the United States illustrates that women who did not receive prenatal care were more likely to have increased foetal death rates (Vintzileos et al. 2002). 2.6 Other factors affecting birth outcomes A study conducted in Scotland to determine whether a short interval between pregnancies is an independent risk factor for adverse obstetric outcomes revealed that women getting pregnant after less than six months of previous pregnancy were more likely to have had their second birth complicated by intrauterine growth restriction (Smith, et al. 2003). The study shows that after controlling for a number of factors (age, marital status, previous birth weights, smoking, and socio-economic status), a short inter-pregnancy interval was an independent risk factor for preterm delivery and neonatal death in the second birth (Smith, et al. 2003). A study conducted in the United States on Mexican-origin Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women examining the effect of inter-pregnancy intervals on premature delivery observed a significant relationship between preterm births and short inter-pregnancy intervals. The study showed that, after adjusting for the confounding factors, women with inter-pregnancy intervals less than 18 months were 14-47 percent more likely to have very premature and moderately premature infants than women with 26
inter-pregnancy intervals of 18-59 months. In addition, women with inter-pregnancy intervals more than 59 months were more likely to have very premature and moderately premature deliveries than women with inter-pregnancy intervals 18-59 months (Fuentes-Afflick and Hessol 2000). Other studies have demonstrated an association between birth intervals and maternal mortality and morbidity. A study conducted in Latin America and the Caribbean shows that women with less than 6 months interval had higher risks for maternal deaths, third trimester bleeding, premature membranes and anaemia as compared to women with inter-pregnancy intervals of 18 to 23 months, while those women with more than 59 months interval had significantly higher risks of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia (Conde-Agudelo and Belizan 2005). 2.7 Summary This chapter has outlined the available literature on the relationship between antenatal care and sociodemographic factors. It also outlined the literature available on the effect of antenatal care attendance and timing of first antenatal care visits on adverse birth outcomes. Based on the above research findings, I expect that education and income levels will have a greater effect on antenatal care attendance, and that antenatal care attendance and birth intervals will have a greater effect on birth outcomes. 27
Page 1 and 2: AN EXAMINATION OF THE ROLE OF ANTEN
Page 3 and 4: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere appreci
Page 5 and 6: THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TO: DEDICATI
Page 7 and 8: CHAPTER ONE TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRO
Page 9 and 10: LIST OF TABLES Socio-demographic ch
Page 11 and 12: 1.1 Background of the study CHAPTER
Page 13 and 14: 1.3 Justification of the study Whil
Page 15 and 16: irth weight, caesarean section and
Page 17 and 18: Birth outcomes such as size of the
Page 19 and 20: 1.6 Organization of the dissertatio
Page 21 and 22: the South African Demographic Healt
Page 23 and 24: sufficient access to life-saving he
Page 25 and 26: 2.2 Use of antenatal care Studies h
Page 27 and 28: Early care also allows for the deve
Page 29 and 30: Umkhanyakude district in KwaZulu-Na
Page 31 and 32: likely to make decisions about thei
Page 33 and 34: In contrast, another study showed a
Page 35: clinics situated on or at the inter
Page 39 and 40: A questionnaire was used to collect
Page 41 and 42: (v) Highest educational level Educa
Page 43 and 44: mother. Lastly, the large number of
Page 45 and 46: Table 4.1; Socio-Demographic Charac
Page 47 and 48: 4.3 Number of antenatal care visits
Page 49 and 50: Another interesting finding was tha
Page 51 and 52: There was a statistically significa
Page 53 and 54: 35-49 (17 percent). Similarly, mari
Page 55 and 56: The results show a significant rela
Page 57 and 58: The logistic regression results sho
Page 59 and 60: that most people start families at
Page 61 and 62: It has been argued that South Afric
Page 63 and 64: pattern, with Asians being the high
Page 65 and 66: REFERENCES Abdel-Hady E and Yahia A
Page 67 and 68: Department of Health. 1999. "South
Page 69 and 70: Maternal and Neonatal Health. 2005.
Page 71 and 72: Smith C, Pell J and Dobbie R. 2003

an examination of the role of antenatal care attendance in ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?