Knowledge and Uptake of Preconception Care Among Reproductive Age Women with Chronic Medical Illness Visiting St. Paul’s Millennium Medical College : A Cross sectional Study

Abstract

<p><strong>Background: </strong>Preconception care is the provision of biomedical, behavioral and social health interventions to women before the occurrence of conception to improve their health status. This is particularly the case for women with chronic health conditions. The poor maternal and child health for women with chronic medical illness is partly attributed for the low level of women’s knowledge and practice of preconception care.<strong> </strong>This study aimed to assess knowledge and uptake of preconception care among reproductive age women (15-49years) with chronic medical illness visiting<strong> </strong>St. Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College.</p> <p><strong>Methods: </strong>The study utilized<strong> </strong>hospital based cross-sectional descriptive study design. Systematic random sampling was used to recruit 280 reproductive age group women who visited SPHMMC chronic care clinics. The data was collected using pre tested and structured questionnaires through face-to-face interview. The data was entered into Epi-Info version 3.5, and cleaned and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 20. Descriptive statistics were calculated and multivariate logistic regression model was fitted to identify independent predictors of preconception care uptake. Statistical significance was declared at P-value of 0.05.</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> The findings from the study showed among 280 respondents, only 22.9 % (64) of participants have good knowledge about preconception care and 18.1% (51) of the respondents have sought the preconception care.<strong> </strong>A significant association was found between knowledge of preconception care and respondents monthly income (AOR=3.3; 95% C= 1.3, 8.6), number of children (AOR =20.1; 95% C= 4.0, 101.8) and time to reach to health institution (AOR =2.2; 95% C= 1.2, 4.2). The two leading components of preconception care that respondents have utilized in the past were cessation of alcohol and<strong> </strong>family planning<strong>.</strong></p> <strong>Conclusion</strong>: This study showed that level of women’s knowledge and utilization of preconception care is low compared to other studies. The hospital should be strengthened in integrating preconception care to other medical services. The need for massive education on preconception care for reproductive age women is also highly important for people to utilize it more effectively.