Compliance to iron and folic acid supplementation and associated factors among antenatal mothers attending OPD in a tertiary care institute in India

Authors

  • Athira B. College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Deoghar, Jharkhand, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4496-8326
  • Priyanka Rai Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Deoghar, Jharkhand, India
  • C. Vasantha Kalyani College of Nursing, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Deoghar, Jharkhand, India
  • Bhavna Verma All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bilaspurr, Himachal Pradesh, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20241496

Keywords:

Anaemia in pregnancy, Compliance, Noncompliance, IFA supplementation, Antenatal mothers

Abstract

Background: Anaemia in pregnancy is a serious health issue faced globally by all countries. Noncompliance to iron and folic acid supplement plays a role in the high prevalence of anemia in pregnant women.

Objectives: The objectives were to find out the proportion of compliance to iron and folic acid tablets (IFA) among antenatal mothers and to determine factors associated with it.

Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 260 antenatal mothers attending antenatal clinic in a tertiary care hospital in Jharkhand from August 2023 to February 2024. Subjects were recruited through consecutive sampling. A pretested, predesigned, semi structured interview schedule was used to collect information. Data were analyzed using SPSS 15.0. Chi square was used to find out the association of compliance with independent variables. P value of <0.05 was considered as significant.

Results: Among the study participants, majority (55.7%) were above 26 years’ age and 60% stayed in rural area. Overall, 64.2% stayed in joint family. The proportion of compliance to IFA among antenatal mothers was 58.8% (n=153), and the reason for noncompliance (n=107) in the majority was forgetfulness (46.7%) followed by “side effects” (28%). Factors like socio economic status and type of family have shown significant association with this compliance.

Conclusions: This study highlighted that only around half of the pregnant women are compliant with IFA, and this situation demands for information education and communication activities to generate awareness.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Sappani M, Mani T, Asirvatham ES, Joy M, Babu M, Jeyaseelan L. Trends in prevalence and determinants of severe and moderate anaemia among women of reproductive age during the last 15 years in India. PLoS One. 2023;18(6):e0286464.

Nair M, Choudhury MK, Choudhury SS, Kakoty SD, Sarma UC, Webster P, et al. Association between maternal anaemia and pregnancy outcomes: a cohort study in Assam, India. BMJ Glob Health. 2016;1(1):e000026.

Anaemia in women and children. Who.int. Available from: https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/ themes/topics/anaemia_in_women_and_children; 2024. Accessed on 25 January 2024.

National family health survey (NFHS-5). Rchiips.org; 2024. Available from: https://rchiips.org/nfhs/factsheet_NFHS-5.shtml. Accessed on 4 March 2024.

WHO recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience [Internet]. Who.int. World Health Organization; 2016. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/ 9789241549912. Accessed on 4 March 2024.

WHO. Guideline: Daily iron and folic acid supplementation in pregnant women. Geneva: WHO; 2012.

Mithra P, Unnikrishnan B, Rekha T, Nithin K, Mohan K, Kulkarni V, et al. Compliance with iron-folic acid (IFA) therapy among pregnant women in an urban area of south India. Afr Health Sci. 2014;13(4):880.

Reang T, Choudhuri P, Debbarma A, Debbarma S. Compliance to iron and folic acid tablets among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Agartala Government Medical College. J Family Med Prim Care. 2022;11(6):2763.

Cramer JA, Roy A, Burrell A, Fairchild CJ, Fuldeore MJ, Ollendorf DA, et al. Medication compliance and persistence: Terminology and definitions. Value Health. 2008;11(1):44-7.

Galloway R, McGuire J. Determinants of compliance with iron supplementation: Supplies, side effects, or psychology? Soc Sci Med. 1994;39(3):381-90.

Radhakrishnan M, Nagaraja SB. Modified Kuppuswamy socioeconomic scale 2023: stratification and updates. Int J Community Med Public Health [Internet]. 2023;10(11):4415–8.

Chakrabarti S, Debi S, Basu G, Mondal R, Roy S, Ghosh S. Compliance to iron-folic-acid supplementation and associated factors among pregnant women: A cross-sectional survey in a district of West Bengal, India. J Family Med Prim Care. 2020;9(7):3613.

Yadav K, Deori T, Ramaswamy G, Jaiswal A, Loganathan V, Kumar R, et al. Compliance with iron folic acid (IFA) tablets and associated factors among pregnant women attending ante.natal care clinic at Sub District Hospital, Ballabgarh. J Family Med Prim Care. 2021;10(5):2006.

Selvaraj K, Arumugasamy P, Sarkar S. Compliance and patterns of iron-folic acid intake among adolescent girls and antenatal women in rural Tamil Nadu. CHRISMED J Health Res. 2017;4(2):87.

Godara S, Hooda R, Nanda S, Mann S. To study compliance of antenatal women in relation to iron supplementation in routine ante-natal clinic at a tertiary health care centre. J Drug Deliv Ther. 2013;3(3):75.

Khanam A, Vohra K, Achary MG, Ranjith T, Bharti A, Rupam H, et al. A Systematic review of factors affecting compliance toward oral iron-folic acid supplementation among pregnant women in India. Indian J Community Health . 2022;34(4):456-63.

Dutta AJ, Patel P, Bansal RK. Compliance to iron supplementation among pregnant women: A cross sectional study in urban slum. Cloudfront.net. Available at: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/76353105/54_457-462-libre.pdf. Accessed on 8 March 2024.

Downloads

Published

2024-05-30

How to Cite

B., A., Rai, P., Vasantha Kalyani, C., & Verma, B. (2024). Compliance to iron and folic acid supplementation and associated factors among antenatal mothers attending OPD in a tertiary care institute in India. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 11(6), 2344–2348. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20241496

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles