Prevalence of unintended pregnancy and its related factors in Arak 2007

authors:

avatar abolfazl mohammadbeigi , * , avatar Narges MohammadSalehi , avatar Akram Bayati

Koomesh: Vol.10, issue 3; 201-206
published online: June 24, 2009
article type: Research Article
received: February 09, 2009
accepted: June 10, 2009

how to cite: mohammadbeigi A, MohammadSalehi N, Bayati A. Prevalence of unintended pregnancy and its related factors in Arak 2007. koomesh. 2009;10(3):e152241. 

Abstract

Introduction: Each year over 200 million pregnancies occurring in worldwide and approximately one third of these are unintended. The present study was conducted to assess the prevalence of unintended pregnancies and its related factors in Arak (Iran). Material and methods: This analytical cross- sectional study was carried out on 352 mothers who had 6-12 months neonatal. Data was collected by valid and reliable questionnaire and interview in the health centers of Arak city. The prevalence of unintended pregnancy was calculated and its related factors identified by fisher exact test, t-test, and Chi-square and logistic regression statistical tests. Results: In this study, the prevalence of unintended pregnancy was 27.8%. Meanwhile 6.1% of these mothers had used interrupts coitus as a contraceptive. A significant relation was observed between unwanted pregnancy and age of parents, parity and husband education (P0.05). There was a reverse association between unintended pregnancy and prenatal care and exclusive breastfeeding as well. Conclusion: These results showed that extending of the education programs about contraceptive methods and disadvantages of unintended pregnancy especially for housewife and illiterate women is necessary in order to preventing unintended pregnancies its sequential outcomes