Utilization of Antenatal Care Services in Bangladesh: A Cross-sectional Study Exploring the Associated Factors

Özet

Objectives: The study aims to identify the associated factors with antenatal care (ANC) service utilization by pregnant women in Bangladesh. Methods: Using Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2014, Chi-square association test detected sig- nificant explanatory variables for the number of ANC visits. For adjusted effects estimation, the study consid- ered multinomial logistic regression (MLR) with relative risk ratio (RRR) and proportional odds model (POM). Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) compared and selected a better-fitted model. Results: This study included 4488 responses who are women aged from 15-49 years. From MLR, primary ed- ucated women (RRR=1.344, 95% CI=1.253-1.747, p<0.001) with highly educated partners (RRR=1.478, 95% CI=1.255-1.908, p<0.001) were more likely to use ANC services. Besides, women belonging to the middle (RRR=1.209, 95% CI=1.114-1.644, p<0.001) and rich (RRR=1.506, 95% CI=1.307-1.970, p<0.001) wealth in- dex had more chances of utilizing ANC services. However, ANC attendance decreased significantly with the increment in birth order (p<0.001). ANC visits was also lower for rural women (RRR=0.711, 95% CI=0.555- 0.891, p<0.001), Dhaka (RRR=0.623, 95% CI=0.493-0.955, p<0.001), Khulna (RRR=0.457, 95% CI=0.388-0.687, p<0.001), and Rangpur (RRR=0.579, 95% CI=0.484-0.780, p<0.001) divisions. Conclusion: To increase the ANC attendance, improvement of maternal education in rural areas is highly rec- ommended. Dhaka, Khulna, and Rangpur divisions also need special focus.