European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

WOMEN’S UNDERSTANDING OF PREGNANCY HEALTH RISK: INSINUATION FOR CONTRACEPTIVE AMONG WOMEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE GROUP ATTENDING LAUTECH TEACHING HOSPITAL OGBOMOSO, OYO STATE NIGERIA.

Owonikoko Kola Musliudin*, Oyelade F.O., Aworinde O. and Adeniji A.O.

ABSTRACT

Background: Complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age. Aims: To assess the knowledge of the risk posed by pregnancy and implication for contraceptive among women of reproductive age group at LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso. Method: The study employed structured questionnaires that were administered to consenting women of reproductive age group attending the antenatal and gynecology clinics of LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso. Analysis of data was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 15 (SPSS-15). Results: Over one-third (33.9%) of respondents were between ages 25-29. One hundred and twenty-nine (68.3%) had tertiary educational and 95(50.3%) had never been pregnant. The study revealed that majority of the respondents were sexually active 137(72.5%), high awareness of contraceptives 166(87.8%) but less than one-third (47/24.9%) uses contraceptive presently. More than half, 106(56.1%) of the respondents believed that contraceptive was more hazardous than pregnancy. More respondents 118(62.4%) were aware of pregnancy health benefit which included; enough rest (48.3%), reduce risk of breast cancer (12.7%) and ovarian cancer (22.9%) and endometrial cancer (18%). Hypertension had been implicated by more than half of respondents 103(54.5%) as pregnancy health risk. Age (p< 0.03), educational status (p<0.04), previous pregnancy (p<0.001) and number of pregnancy (p<0.001) showed statistically significant differences to respondents‟ choice of contraceptive over pregnancy as more hazardous to woman‟s health. Conclusion: Women of all ages and educational levels significantly underestimate the potential health hazards of pregnancy. Therefore, there is a need to educate and safeguard women of reproductive age on the health risks of pregnancy and importance of contraceptives usage to prevent unplanned pregnancy.

Keywords: Pregnancy, Contraception, Health risk.