article · PLoS ONE
A study conducted in Debre Berhan town, Northern Ethiopia, assessed how commonly short intervals occur between consecutive pregnancies and what factors drive them. A short interpregnancy interval, defined as less than 24 months between a child's birth and the next conception, affects perinatal and maternal outcomes. Surveying 496 randomly chosen pregnant women revealed that 40.9 percent experienced a short interpregnancy interval. Statistical analysis identified multiple independent risk factors, including maternal age over 30 at first birth, lack of modern contraceptive use, breastfeeding for less than 12 months, and unintended pregnancy. Conversely, having a parity of more than four reduced the likelihood of a short interval. The findings indicate that short intervals remain common in this urban setting, suggesting that promoting modern contraception and longer breastfeeding durations could help reduce their occurrence.
Closely spaced pregnancies can lead to adverse health outcomes for both mothers and their infants. Identifying the specific factors linked to short interpregnancy intervals helps health workers and policymakers design more effective family planning interventions, contraceptive programmes, and breastfeeding guidance tailored to local community needs.
The abstract does not indicate an application pathway, as it focuses entirely on observational epidemiological data for public health awareness.
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BACKGROUND: Short inter-pregnancy interval is an interval of <24 months between the dates of birth of the preceding child and the conception date of the current pregnancy. Despite its direct effects on the perinatal and maternal outcomes, there is a paucity of evidence on its prevalence and determinant factors, particularly in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study assessed the prevalence and associated factors of short inter-pregnancy interval among pregnant women in Debre Berhan town, Northern Ethiopia. METHODS: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among a randomly selected 496 pregnant women in Debre Berhan town from February 9 to March 9, 2020. The data were collected by using an interviewer-administered questionnaire and analyzed using STATA (14.2) statistical software. To identify the predictors of short inter-pregnancy interval, multivariable binary logistic regression was fitted and findings are presented using adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULT: The overall prevalence of short inter-pregnancy interval (<24 months) among pregnant women was 205 (40.9%). Being over 30 years of age at first birth (AOR = 3.50; 95% CI: 2.12-6.01), non-use of modern contraceptive (AOR = 2.51; 95% CI: 1.23-3.71), duration of breastfeeding for less than 12 months (AOR = 2.62; 95% CI: 1.32-5.23), parity above four (AOR = 0.31; 95% CI: 0.05-0.81), and unintended pregnancy (AOR = 5.42; 95% CI: 3.34-9.22) were independently associated factors with short inter-pregnancy interval. CONCLUSION: Despite the public health interventions being tried in the country, the prevalence of short inter-pregnancy interval in this study is high. Therefore, it implies that increasing contraceptive use and encouraging optimal breastfeeding might help in the efforts made to avert the problem.
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DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0255613
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