Effect of gestational age at booking on feto-maternal outcome at a Nigerian tertiary hospital

Abstract

Background: Antenatal care (ANC) is one of the pillars of safe motherhood initiative aimed at preventing adverse pregnancy outcome. Early initiation of ANC may provide avenue for early identification and management of many medical illnesses in pregnancy with the resultant better feto-maternal outcome. The objective of the study was to determine the average gestational age (GA) at booking and to determine the effect of GA at booking on the feto-maternal outcome. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of 414 women consecutively recruited at the booking clinic of the Teaching Hospital from September 2016 to July 2017. This was divided into two arms, early and late booking. However, only 186 and 189 women in the early and late booking women, respectively, completed the study and their data were available for analysis, and they were followed up to delivery. Results: The mean GA at booking in the study was 19.4 ± 8.14 weeks. The incidence rate of low-birth-weight was 8.3%. The recorded incidence rate of low-birth-weight of 7.8% among early attendees was similar to 8.8% recorded among those that booked late in pregnancy (P = 0.373). The overall stillbirth rate in this study was 29.33/1000 birth. The cumulative incidence of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy in the study was 12.8%. The overall mean packed cell volume (PCV) at booking was 33.6 ± 3.2 and similar to the respective PCV at booking in both early and the late booking women. The PCV at delivery was, however, significantly higher among those women that booked early when compared with those that booked late. Conclusion: The mean GA at booking in our unit is 19.4 ± 8.14. Early booking and access to routine hematinics may guarantee sustenance of this recorded higher PCV at delivery. Furthermore, educated and less parous women tend to book early from this study.