Knowledge And Myths About Preeclampsia And Eclampsia And Its Influence On Antenatal Service Utilization Among Expecting Couples In Mtwara Region: A Cross Sectional Analytical Study

ABSTRACT

Background: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including preeclampsia and eclampsia are the major health problem among the pregnant women and the main causes of the maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality which accounts 19% of deaths in Tanzania. This study intended to assess knowledge and Myths about preeclampsia and eclampsia and its influence on antenatal care services utilization among expecting couples in Mtwara region. Method: A community based cross-sectional analytical study conducted in Mtwara region, a random sampling procedure was employed to obtain a sample size of 384 couples with a total of 768 participants (male=384 and female =384). Interviewer administered structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Statistical package for social science (SPSS v.20) software was used for data entry and analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) done to check relevance of the question asked, cross tabulation to find the relationship and inferential statistics were used to test association between variables obtained. Results: Among 768 participants, 62.1% had an inadequate knowledge about preeclampsia and eclampsia. 51.6% had weak myths while 48.4% had strong Myths. Furthermore 64% had adequate antenatal utilization. Female were all most 2 times more likely to have knowledge (AOR=1.66; CI = 1.116 – 2.477; P = 0.012) compared to male. Unemployed were 6 times more likely to have strong myths (AOR = 6.311; CI = 3.114 – 12.790; P