Magnitude and Associated Factors of Late Booking for Antenatal Care in Public Health Centers of Adigrat Town, Tigray, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Antenatal care (ANC) is attention given to a pregnant mother from the time of conception until the beginning of labor. It has an impact on the development of the fetus as well as the health of the mother. It can be achieved through early booking and regular attendance of antenatal clinic. Objective: This study assessed the magnitude and associated factors for late booking for antenatal care in Adigrat town. Methodology: A facility based cross-sectional study was employed to collect data from 415 pregnant women using face-to-face interview. Descriptive statistics, Bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analysis were used to identify associated factors with late booking for ANC. Result: Two hundred fifteen (51.8%) pregnant women booked their first ANC late. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that pregnant women who had parity one and above, unplanned pregnancy and those who had a perception time to book ANC is after four months of gestational age were increased but having no history on abortion decreased the likelihood of late booking than the reference category. Conclusion: The prevalence of late booking for ANC was found high in Adigrat and the possible factors for this were parity one and above, had no history of abortion, unplanned pregnancy and perception the time to book ANC. To improve this addressing the identified factors by community mobilization and promoting the importance of early booking for ANC are mandatory.