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Global Health Econ Sustain Antenatal care attendance

Table 4. Antenatal care attendance and intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy with sulfadoxine‑pyrimethamine doses
administration
Delivery Health facility (n [%]) Test statistic p‑value
AGH BCH
Trimester at the first ANC visit χ (2)=1.67 0.433
2
1 trimester 136 (51.5) 68 (45.0)
st
2 trimester 108 (40.9) 69 (45.7)
nd
3 trimester 20 (7.6) 14 (9.3)
rd
Total 264 (100.0) 151 (100.0)
Total number of ANC visits χ (2)=1.17 0.558
2
<4 70 (23.3) 36 (22.1)
4 – 7 151 (50.2) 76 (46.6)
≥8 80 (26.6) 51 (31.3)
IPTp-SP administered during the current pregnancy χ (1)=7.20 0.007
2
No 27 (9.0) 4 (2.5)
Yes 274 (91.0) 159 (97.6)
No. of IPTp-SP doses received χ (4)=7.87; z=-2.17 0.096; 0.030r
2
1 43 (15.7) 20 (12.6)
2 49 (17.9) 27 (17.0)
3 111 (40.5) 52 (32.7)
4 48 (17.5) 36 (22.6)
≥5 23 (8.4) 24 (15.1)
Median (IQR) 3.0 (2.0) 3.0 (2.0)
When to take IPTp during pregnancy χ (2)=11.97 0.003
2
After first trimester exclusively 158 (52.5) 83 (50.9)
Anytime during the pregnancy 19 (6.3) 26 (16.0)
Do not know 124 (41.2) 54 (33.1)
Emergency visits during current pregnancy χ (1)=2.71 0.099
2
No 271 (90.0) 154 (94.5)
Yes 30 (10.0) 9 (5.5)
2
Complications during pregnancy χ (1)=4.96 0.026
No 278 (92.4) 140 (85.9)
Yes 23 (7.6) 23 (14.1)
Total 301 (100.0) 163 (100.0)
Note: r=Wilcoxon rank-sum test p value.
Abbreviations: AGH: Adidome Government Hospital; ANC: Antenatal care; BCH: Battor Catholic Hospital; IPTp-SP: Intermittent preventive treatment
in pregnancy with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine; IQR: Interquartile range.

4. Discussion in a rural community in southern Ghana, while Yaya et al.
(2019) reported an average ANC attendance age of 30.6
Maternal age appeared to play a role in ANC service (±7.1) years in Ghana. In addition, a comparative study in
utilization, with most women initiating ANC visits between northern Ghana found that 64.4% of participants fell within
the ages of 20 and 39 years, a pattern consistent across both
health centers (Table 1). This finding aligns with the GHS the 21 – 30 years age bracket (Abubakari et al., 2018).
recommendation, which advocates 20 – 35 years as the peak Marital status also appeared to influence ANC service
reproductive years with minimum complications. Similar utilization, with a high proportion of married participants
findings were reported in other studies. Manyeh et al. (2020) observed at both health facilities (Table 1). This finding
observed an average age of 23 years for first-time mothers is consistent with studies by Sakeah et al. (2017) in the

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2024) 8 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.2336