Objective: The study aimed to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pregnant women’s prenatal care demand.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between July 2020 and November 2020. The sample included 370 pregnant women recruited using the convenience sample method. The research data were collected by face-to-face interview technique with the questionnaire form prepared by the researcher using the literature on the subject. The data were analyzed using the chi-square test, fisher’s exact test, student t-test, and one-way ANOVA test. A p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: The average number of prenatal care was 1.7 ± 1.4, the average prenatal care initiation time was 23.1 ± 8.5 weeks, and 69.6% got inadequate prenatal care during their pregnancy. The rate of having COVID-19 disease in pregnant women taking part in the study was 1.9%. Of women, 77.6% had fear of contracting COVID-19 disease, 70% fear of transmitting COVID-19 to her fetus, and 60.3% fear about carrying COVID-19 from hospital to home. It was determined that pregnant women who were worried about getting COVID-19 disease, their babies were infected with COVID-19 and carrying COVID-19 from hospital to home received less prenatal care than those who did not live, had lower rates of receiving adequate prenatal care, and delayed receiving prenatal care.
Conclusion: It was determined that the COVID-19 pandemic had adversely affected the prenatal care demand. The study has important strengths as it is one of the first studies on prenatal care that is one of the determinants of maternal and fetal health.