Pregnant women's use of early obstetric ultrasound during antenatal care in sub‐Saharan Africa: A Cross‐sectional study

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the rate of utilization of early obstetric ultrasound as part of antenatal care and factors associated with among pregnant women following antenatal care (ANC) in Ambo town. METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 355 pregnant women attending antenatal care from January 1-30, 2024, in Ambo Town public health care institutions in Ethiopia. One public health center and one hospital were selected by simple random method. A systematic sampling technique was used to select study participants who attended the antenatal service during the data collection period. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association between the explanatory and response variables. Adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95% and P values less than 0.05 were used to present results significance. RESULTS: The utilization of early obstetric ultrasound among the pregnant women was 63.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: [56.3%-70.5%]). Urban place of residence (AOR = 6.0, 95% CI: 2.44, 14.70), place of delivery (AOR = 3.8, 95% CI: 1.06, 13.37), history of pre-existing medical disease(s) (AOR = 4.3, 95% CI: 1.36, 8.91), history of abortion (AOR = 4.0, 95% CI: 1.50, 7.10), and good knowledge on the use of early obstetric ultrasound (AOR = 3.0, 95% CI: 1.3, 7.03) were associated with the utilization of early obstetric ultrasound. CONCLUSION: In this study, the utilization of early obstetric ultrasound (<24 weeks of gestation) utilization during pregnancy was lower than that recommended by the WHO and national guidelines.