Antenatal care and determinants of obstetric danger signs awareness of immediate postpartum women at Buea Regional Hospital, Cameroon

Abstract

Introduction a significant proportion of pregnancy related deaths result from delay in decision to seek care and this often stems from failure to identify obstetric danger signs earlier. Early identification of these danger signs will therefore reduce maternal mortality. However, studies on obstetric danger signs awareness are lacking in Cameroon. The objective of this study was to assess the determinants of obstetric danger signs awareness of women at immediate postpartum period. This will inform ANC providers´ practice. Methods between June and September 2019, women who delivered at the Buea Regional Hospital were interviewed within 24 hours following their delivery using a researcher-administered questionnaire that covered socio-demographic and obstetric variables. Data were entered into EpiData and analysis done using SPSS 16 and OpenEpi. Statistical significance was set at p-value < 0.05. Results of the 532 participants, majority (230/532: 43.2%) were those aged 26-35; danger signs awareness rate was 73.3%. There was a statistically significant relation between age and awareness of obstetric danger signs which showed that older women were more aware than their younger counterparts (p=0.00). Other statistically significant determinants of danger sign awareness included occupation, level of education, parity, trimester of onset of antenatal visits and the number of visits before delivery (p<0.05). Multiparity (370/490: 75.5%) and grand multiparity (14/22: 63.6%) were more likely to be aware of obstetric danger signs than primiparous women (6/20: 30%). Similarly, those who started antenatal visits earlier (first or second trimester) and those who attended more visits were more likely to be aware of obstetric danger signs than their counterparts who started later or had lesser antenatal visits before delivery. The most reported danger signs were severe vaginal bleed (71.4%), fever (62.0%) and reduced fetal movement. Conclusion conclusively, more focus should be placed on the sensitisation about obstetric danger signs when in contact with primiparous and younger parturient during ANC visits.

Knowledge of danger signs of pregnancy and health-seeking action among pregnant women: a health facility-based cross-sectional study

“…This difference might be due to the sociodemographic and cultural differences of the study participants. While the knowledge of danger signs of pregnancy in our study was lower than in studies conducted in Cameroon (73.3%) 16 and Nepal (66.0%) 46 . The possible reason for this discrepancy might be the study participants, the study in Cameroon includes immediate postpartum women, while our study includes pregnant women.…”

“…Mothers who had primary, secondary, and above educational levels were 4.85 and 6.90 times more likely to have good knowledge of the danger signs of pregnancy. This finding is consistent with other studies conducted in different parts of Ethiopia and other countries 7 , 9 , 12 , 16 , 21 , 27 , 39 , 48 , 51 – 53 . Education gives the impression to play a positive role in increasing the knowledge of women about danger signs during pregnancy and its complications 54 .…”

“…Mothers who are found in the age group of 25–29 and ≥30 years were 3.35 and 8.11 times more likely to have good knowledge of the danger signs of pregnancy, respectively. Similar findings were reported in other studies 12 , 15 , 16 , 31 , 36 , 48 , 49 . The possible explanation might be older women may have had experiences with obstetric danger signs in past pregnancies, thus may increase their level of knowledge of obstetric danger signs of pregnancy.…”

“…Obstetric danger signs are unexpected obstetric signs that can lead to maternal health complications 16 .…”

Pregnant Woman in Developing Country Awareness of Obstetric Danger Signs: Systematic Review

“…The majority of studies use the number of danger signs, namely ≥ 4 dangers 19 , ≥ 3 obstetric danger signs 1 , 7 , 11 , 13 , 14 , ≥ 2 danger sign 2 , 12 , 15 , 16 , dan ≥ 1 danger sign 6 . Three other studies used different measurement methods, two studies used the mean as the limit of assessment 3 , 4 , 17 , 18 , and one study used a percentage of 75% 8 . The mother level of knowledge of obstetric danger sign Because the categories used by each study to describe the level of knowledge are different, the authors will report based on the operational de nitions used.…”