Gestational age at initiation of antenatal care in a tertiary hospital, Southwestern Nigeria.
BACKGROUND
Antenatal care utilization has been shown to be associated with reduction in maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality while early initiation provides an opportunity for optimum utilization of this care with improved maternal and fetal outcomes.


OBJECTIVE
This study seeks to determine the time of initiation of antenatal care among pregnant women and possible factors influencing such timing.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study involving 530 pregnant women was carried out at the booking clinic of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, between September 03, 2013, and March 04, 2014.


METHODS
A pretested questionnaire was administered to them to obtain information on their sociodemographic characteristics and factors influencing their timing of antenatal care initiation.


RESULTS
The prevalence of early booking in this study was 22.7%, and the mean gestational age at booking was 21.09 ± 6.98 weeks. The age, parity, and occupation of the women and counseling on early booking were significantly associated with early booking among the respondents with P value of 0.010, 0.006, 0.011, and 0.009, respectively while on logistic regression, the occupation of women was the only significant association with early antenatal care initiation (adjusted odd ratio 0.388; confidence interval 0.212-0.710; P = 0.002). Complications experienced in previous pregnancies did not predict early initiation of care. More than half of the respondents (50.9%) gave early monitoring of their pregnancy as the reason for initiating the care.


CONCLUSIONS
Late initiation of antenatal care is still prevalent in our environment. Therefore, pregnant women should be adequately informed about the concept of early antenatal registration.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
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Aduloju
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
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Akintayo
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
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Ade-Ojo
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
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Awoleke
Department of Medical Social Services, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
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Aduloju
Department of Nursing Services, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
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Ogundare
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008423:Maternal Age; D009549:Nigeria; D009790:Occupations; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010298:Parity; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D055815:Young Adult