The adherence adequacy to antenatal care in alleviating the adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes of iranian pregnant women: A retrospective-prospective study

Abstract

Background. Low adherence of pregnant women to the content of prenatal care guidelines (PCGs) is one of the most significant issues in obstetrics. Objective. This study aimed to improve the well-being of the mother and fetus by preventing maternal and neonatal complications using the adherence to antenatal care (ANC). Patients and methods. An integrated retrospective-prospective longitudinal study with participating 604 pregnant women was carried out in the Iranian community. A valid researcher-made tool was used to implement this three-stage research approach. The results of demographic and obstetric characteristics, the adequacy of adherence to PCGS, and pregnancy outcomes were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression to assess the compliance of women with pregnancy outcomes. Results. 71.36% of the total population had a complete adherence (≥ 80%) to the PCGs. The women with higher education levels substantially showed more adherence to this healthcare program guideline (p = 0.0001). In relation to pregnancy outcomes, there was a significant relationship between women's adherence to PCGs and neonatal complications (p < 0.05). Conclusion. The assessment of PCGs content was successful in evaluating ANC quality. The complete adherence to first ANC guidelines could efficiently promote neonatal outcomes, whereas it showed no effect on maternal outcomes.