Magnitude and Factors Associated with Late Initiation of Antenatal Care Booking on First Visit Among Women in Rural Parts of Ethiopia.

backgroundEarly antenatal care visits enhance early detection and treatment of pregnancy problems, resulting in optimal delivery management. This study aimed to assess the late initiation of antenatal care visits among pregnant women in rural parts of Ethiopia.

methodsA 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey provided the data for this study and a population-based cross-sectional study was conducted during data collection. Only 3065 women from rural areas were included in this study due to having complete information from all eligible women aged 15 to 49 who participated in the interview during data collection. SPSS-20 and R-4.1.2 statistical software were used to examine the data. The factors associated with the late initiation of antenatal care visits were identified using descriptive analysis and a binary logistic regression model.

resultsThis finding revealed that only 31% of women visited their initial antenatal care within the first 3 months. The distance between the health facility and the participants was a concern for 87.7% of the participants. Our research found that women's education, maternal age, region, media access, women's occupation, distance from the health facility, wealth index, pregnancy complication, and pregnancy plan all had significant effects on the late initiation of antenatal care visits. When compared to the reference group, women with a secondary and above education (AOR = 1.52, p-value = 0.02), women in age group 30-34 (AOR = 1.57, p-value = 0.02), and women in age group 35-39 (AOR = 1.56, p-value = 0.03), women with media access (AOR = 2.4, p-value = 0.04), richer women's (AOR = 1.29, p-value ≤ 0.001), women with pregnancy previous complication (AOR = 1.58, p-value ≤ 0.001), and women who had plan to the pregnancy (AOR = 1.26, p-value = 0.02) were more likely to start visiting ANC service earlier. In addition, private worker mothers, housewife women, and mothers having distance problems were less likely to visit antenatal care service before or at 12 weeks of gestation compared to those mothers in reference categories of each variable.

conclusionIn Ethiopia, particularly in rural areas, early registration to antenatal care visits was extremely low. Community-based services such as media coverage, education, transportation, and raising awareness about the need of receiving antenatal care services early are required to encourage expecting mothers to attend their ANC appointment on time.