Knowledge of pregnant women about birth defects

Abstract

BackgroundOccurrence of birth defects (BD) remains an important public health issue. Inadequate knowledge about the defects among prospective mothers could result in delayed interventions. The study determined the knowledge of BD among pregnant women in relation to their socio-demographic profile.MethodFour hundred and forty-three (443) pregnant women gave their consent to participate in this study. A researcher-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on socio-demographic characteristics from the participants and their knowledge about BD. The questionnaire was assessed for test re-test reliability before been administered. The possible scores on the knowledge domain of the questionnaire were categorized into three levels: low knowledge (0–4), moderate knowledge (5–8) and high knowledge (9–12) levels. Data were analyzed using percentages while Spearman’s rank correlation was used to determine the relationship between the knowledge of BD among the participants and their socio-demographic profile. Alpha level was set at p < 0.05.ResultsA greater proportion of the participants, 235(53.0%) were found in the age range 21 to 30 years, and 234(52.8%) attained secondary level of education. Majority of the participants, 205(46.3%) had high knowledge on the risk factors while 213(48.1%) and 224(50.6%) had moderate overall knowledge and specific knowledge about BD respectively. Most of the participants (48.1%) believed that BD were of supernatural origin. The age, level of education, number of antenatal visits and parity of the participants were not significantly correlated (p > 0.05) with their specific and overall knowledge.ConclusionsParticpants generally had moderate knowledge about BD. However, this had no bearing on their socio-demographic profile. The knowledge base about BD seems to be influenced by traditional belief of the participants. This finding should therefore serve as a guide for health care providers while planning awareness campaign about BD.

Beliefs and Risk Awareness on Medications Among Pregnant Women Attending the Antenatal Care Unit in Ethiopia University Hospital. Overestimating the Risks Is Another Dread

“…This is imperative for women to have a positive attitude in general toward medicines that is acceptable. Among the women who had an abnormal child, none considered medications as the cause; rather they attributed it to heredity, a curse, or something supernatural, since it is believed by the majority of African women that birth defects are attributed to divine factors (23). This is similar to a Saudi Arabia study that indicated that women believe that drugs were not the reason for congenital abnormality (15).…”

Awareness of Married Adults about Congenital Anomalies in a Rural Village, Assiut

“…The same were reported in several studies. (9)(10)(11) Our results reported that viral infections during pregnancy were mentioned as a risk factor for CA by participants. The same was recorded by some studies.…”

“…(10,11) However, good knowledge was reported among 20.1% of participants in the present study whereas much higher level of knowledge was reported by other studies. (9,11) This may be due to different socio-demographic characteristics of study participants (illiterate rural residents). On the other hand, Sidhu et al (12) reported that only 4.5% of their participants had good knowledge regarding congenital malformations.…”

“…Deficient knowledge about the deformities among forthcoming mothers could delay interventions. (9) The fourth goal of the Millennium Development Goals could be achieved by reduction of congenital anomalies. Proper knowledge about congenital malformation may lead to early diagnosis, effective secondary prevention.…”

Birth Defects, Causal Attributions, and Ethnicity in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study

“…Prior research has identified a wide array about causal beliefs related to birth defects, including using drugs and alcohol (Cohen et al 1998;Griffiths and Kuppermann 2008), smoking (Bello et al 2013), maternal impression (Castro 1995;Callister and Vega 1998;Cohen et al 1998;Snow 1983), eating certain foods (Cheng 1990;Dryden 1990), heredity (Cohen et al 1998;Dryden 1990;Griffiths and Kuppermann 2008;Nelson et al 2009;Ojofeitimi and Elegbe 1984), God's will (Ojofeitimi and Elegbe 1984), lunar or solar eclipses (Callister and Vega 1998;Snow 1983), intake of medications or vaccines (Griffiths and Kuppermann 2008;Mazzotta et al 1999;Sanz et al 2001), parental punishment or karma (Cheng 1990;Ojofeitimi and Elegbe 1984;Snow 1983;Viste 2007), advanced maternal age (Bello et al 2013) and receiving x-rays during pregnancy (Bentur et al 1991). However, these studies are largely ethnographic, focusing on unique, traditional cultures or very specific ethnic populations, often emphasizing folk beliefs and supernatural attributions.…”