Comparative Assessment of Unintended Pregnancy at Urban and Rural Hospitals in Enugu State, Nigeria Unintended Pregnancy at Urban and Rural Hospitals

Abstract

Background: Unintended pregnancy continues to be an important reproductive health issue globally because of its associated maternal morbidity and mortality. Recently, anecdotal evidence suggested that unintended pregnancy rates were higher among antenatal women in the rural than urban areas of Nigeria. However, there is still scanty data on this subject in Nigeria. Objective: To determine and compare the prevalence of unintended pregnancy among antenatal women at rural and urban hospitals and to determine the predictors of unintended pregnancy at the rural hospitals in Enugu state, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was carried out among antenatal women at 4 General hospitals in Enugu state; from April to July 2019. Ethical approval was obtained from the Health Research Ethics Committee (HREC) of UNTH Enugu while permission was gotten from Enugu State Hospital Management Board (ENSHMB) prior to the commencement of the study. All eligible antenatal attendees who consented to the study were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire until a sample size of 1160 was reached. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20.0. Results: The prevalence of unintended pregnancy among antenatal women in the rural versus urban hospitals was 30.6% Vs 24.6% (p=0.029, OR=1.352, 1.030-1.773 at 95% CI). The factors associated with unintended pregnancy at rural hospitals include marital status and non-use of contraceptives. Conclusion: The prevalence of unintended pregnancy among antenatal women in the rural General hospitals of Enugu state was higher than those in the urban and could be associated with being single and non-use of contraceptives.