Assessment of adherence to iron supplementation among pregnant women in the Yaounde gynaeco-obstetric and paediatric hospital.

Florent Ymele Fouelifack,Julius Dohbit Sama,Charles Enome Sone

doi:10.11604/pamj.2019.34.211.16446

Florent Ymele Fouelifack, Julius Dohbit Sama + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2019.34.211.16446

Copy DOI

Abstract

IntroductionAnemia is a global problem affecting 41.8% of pregnant women. Iron deficiency is the leading cause during pregnancy. Its prevalence among Cameroonian pregnant women was estimated at 50.9% in 2004. Few studies have evaluated women's adherence to iron supplementation prescribed during pregnancy. We carried this study in order to evaluate the rate of adherence to iron supplementation and its determinants during pregnancy.MethodsThe study was cross-sectional descriptive, on postpartum women at the Gynaeco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital of Yaoundé during three months. Adherence was measured using the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8). The total score was classified as low, moderate and high adherence.ResultsFor a total of 304 recruited women, 16.4% were highly compliant, 27.6% moderately compliant, while 56% were low compliant with iron supplementation during pregnancy. The reasons for non-adherence were side effects (19.7%), forgetting (70.1%) and inaccessibility of iron supplements (20.1%). Up to 85 (or 28%) women found it boring to take medication daily. Women with no side effects were about thrice most likely to adhere to the iron supplementation than those with side effects: OR = 3.73 [2.43-5.71]; P = 0.04. Women aged 25 years and above were more likely to be non-compliant to iron supplementation than those youngers: OR = 0.40 [0.31-0.88]; P = 0.02.ConclusionTo improve adherence to antenatal iron supplementation, it is important to increase communication for behavior change and counseling before or during antenatal care. Forgetting being the main reason for non-adherence, women should keep their iron in a place of easy access.

Highlights

Anaemia is a worldwide public health problem affecting both developing and developed countries with major consequences for human health
Our general objective was to find out the compliance rate and factors that influence compliance to iron supplementation among pregnant women, to describe the sociodemographic characteristics of women attending antenatal consultations in the Yaoundé Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital, to estimate the adherence rate to iron supplementation during pregnancy and to evaluate factors that affect adherence to iron supplementation during pregnancy
We evaluated the rate of compliance to prenatal Iron supplementations and investigated the factors associated with compliance of Iron folate supplementation during pregnancy (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Anaemia is a worldwide public health problem affecting both developing and developed countries with major consequences for human health. Seventeen point two million (57.1%) of pregnant women in Africa are anaemic [1], despite the fact that routine iron supplementation during pregnancy has been almost universally recommended to prevent maternal anaemia especially in developing countries over the past three decades [2,3]. Many developing countries are implementing iron supplementation programs [5,6], but only a few countries have reported significant improvement in anaemia control and prevention [7]. Studies conducted in South-East Asia, Latin America and in few African countries have shown that one of the main reasons why these programs have been less effective than anticipated is low compliance of women with taking daily iron supplements. In Cameroon, iron supplementation is the main strategy for anaemia control and prevention in pregnancy. Our general objective was to find out the compliance rate and factors that influence compliance to iron supplementation among pregnant women, to describe the sociodemographic characteristics of women attending antenatal consultations in the Yaoundé Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital, to estimate the adherence rate to iron supplementation during pregnancy and to evaluate factors that affect adherence to iron supplementation during pregnancy

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion