Early initiations of first antenatal care visit and associated factor among mothers who gave birth in the last six months preceding birth in Bahir Dar Zuria Woreda North West Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Timing of Antenatal care booking is one of the basic components of antenatal care services; that helps to early detection, managing, and prevention of problems during the pregnancy and helps the mother to receive full packages of antenatal care services. However, in the world including Ethiopia, significant numbers of pregnant mothers were not booking the follow up on the recommended time. The main aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and factors that associated with the early timing of antenatal care visit in Bahir Dar Zuria District, North West Ethiopia.

METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 410 mothers have participated. Data were collected through the interview from March 1 to 30/2018 using a structured and pre-tested questionnaire. Data were clear, code, and enter into Epi-info version 7.1 and export to SPSS for farther analysis. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses were used. On bivariate analysis p-value, less than 0.2 were used to select the candidate variable for multivariate analysis. P-value and confidence interval were used to measure the level of significance on multivariate analysis and those variables whose P-value < 0.05 were considered as statically significant.

RESULTS: The prevalence of early timing of ANC in the study area was 46.8%; with [95% CI 40.5, 51.8]. Distances [AOR 2.47, 95% CI; 1.4, 4.2], Knowledge on the timing of ANC [AOR 2.1; 95% CI; 1.2, 3.7], No under-five children [AOR 2.7; 95% CI; 1.3, 5.8], having one under-five children [AOR 2.2; 95% CI; 1.1, 4.5], and wanted pregnancy [AOR 2.4, 95% CI, 1.3, 4.7] were affects the early timing of ANC.

CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of early timing of ANC was high when compared to the national figure and the Sub-Saharan country. Accessibility of health services, knowledge on the timing of ANC, under-five children, and desire for pregnancy were factors that affect the early timing of ANC.