Knowledge of obstetric danger signs and associated factors among pregnant women attending the antenatal care clinic at Kenyatta National Hospital: A cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Background: Pregnancy is a normal phenomenon accompanied by physiological, psychological, andemotional changes. However, some changes negatively affect the health of mothers and babies,increasing maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. Obstetric danger signs show immediatehazards that, if not avoided, may lead to severe injuries or death to the pregnant mother or unborn child.However, data on the awareness of obstetric danger signs in Kenya are scarce. This study aimed toassess the knowledge of obstetric danger signs and associated factors among pregnant women in aselect Kenyan population.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the Kenyatta National Hospital antenatalcare clinic. Researcher-administered questionnaires were used in data collection. Quantitative data wereanalyzed using descriptive analysis; inferential statistics were used to determine the association betweenvariables. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: There were 193 responses in this study. Most respondents (51.3%) were aged 25-31 years. Ofthe respondents, 85.5% (n=165) indicated that they attended an antenatal clinic during their lastpregnancy. Most of the respondents 82.4% (n=159) had delivered at the health center, while theremaining 17.6% delivered at home. The mean average on the danger signs questions was 5.65. 102(53%) participants had good knowledge, while 46% (n=91) had poor knowledge of danger signs. Therespondent’s level of education and the number of deliveries was statistically significant to their level ofknowledge. Participants with secondary and tertiary education were more likely to have better knowledgethan those with informal education (AOR=3.91, 95% Confidence Interval 0.95-18.12).Conclusion: The results reveal an average level of knowledge of pregnancy danger signs among womenvisiting KNH. However, there is still a good percentage of women who have poor knowledge of thedanger signs experienced during pregnancy.