MJM, Vol 70 Supplement 1 September 2015
The impact of late booking among antenatal mothers
in Lembah Pantai District
Lembah Pantai District, State Health Department, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur & Putrajaya
ABSTRACT
Introduction: In Kuala Lumpur total mothers who came for early booking was 64% in 2012 and 67.7% in 2013. There is still much to improve to reach the target of more than 70% decided by the Ministry of Health Malaysia. The study was carried out to assess the impact of late antenatal booking.
Method: Retrospective data was collected randomly from antenatal card KIK/1(b)/96 of antenatal mothers who registered late (>12/52 period of gestation) from January to December 2013 from six Maternal Child Health Clinics in Lembah Pantai District, Kuala Lumpur. Relevant data for this study like period of gestation, risk factors and demographic data were analysed using SPSS version 20. Unbooked mothers, non-citizen and mothers out of operational areas were excluded from this study.
Results: A total of 180 mothers were detected late in the booking. Among them, 60.6% were Malays, 16.7% Chinese, Indian were 7.8% and others 14.9%. Young mothers below 26 years old were the highest, 31.1% among other age groups were late for booking. 91% were married. Homemakers were the highest late booking cases accounting for 47.2% compared to working mothers from private sector amounting to 45% and from government sector 7%. Anaemia with haemoglobin 10.9-8 gm% was the highest complication of late bookings for POA 13-25 weeks with total of 40.5% followed by Gestational Diabetes Mellitus 10% and pregnancy induced hypertension 2.3%.
Conclusion: Malay housewives were the highest group of pregnant mothers who failed in early initiation of antenatal care. Risk factors like anaemia and gestational diabetes were the major issues. Further study should be carried out to identify the contributing factors and barriers for late booking.
Keywords: health impact, late booking, maternal child health
