Rai S S, Ratanasiri T, Arkaravichien T, Thapa P, Koju R
Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.
Kathmandu Univ Med J (KUMJ). 2016;14(56):311-317.
Background Iron deficiency anemia is one of the major public health problems mostly affecting pregnant women of developing countries like Nepal. Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, has considerably high prevalence of anemia, which is attributed to inadequate dietary iron and problems of compliance to iron and folic acid supplementation. Objective This descriptive study aimed to identify the levels of and determinants associated with compliance regarding Iron and folic acid supplementation among pregnant women in Kathmandu, Nepal. Method The study was conducted in Paropakar Maternity and Women's Hospital in Kathmandu. Systematic random sampling was done to select a total of 406 samples that were either handed questionnaire for self-administration or interviewed. The χ2 test and multiple linear regressions were used for statistical analysis. Result The findings showed 73.2% of the respondents had high compliance, 12.8% moderate compliance, and 14% low compliance to iron and folic acid supplementation. More than half of the respondents had insufficient knowledge regarding anemia, iron deficiency and iron and folic acid supplementation. Multiple linear regression revealed that perceived severity, perceived barriers and social support were determinants of compliance to iron and folic acid supplementation (p<0.05). Conclusion This study infers that there is a lack of knowledge and awareness regarding anemia, iron deficiency, and iron and folic acid supplementation among pregnant women, and improvement in social support and perception of severity of the disease, and minimization of associated barriers may lead to better outcome in terms of compliance to iron and folic acid supplementation among pregnant women.
背景 缺铁性贫血是主要的公共卫生问题之一，主要影响尼泊尔等发展中国家的孕妇。尼泊尔首都加德满都贫血患病率相当高，这归因于膳食铁摄入不足以及铁和叶酸补充剂的依从性问题。目的 这项描述性研究旨在确定尼泊尔加德满都孕妇铁和叶酸补充剂的依从水平及其相关决定因素。方法 该研究在加德满都的帕罗帕卡尔妇产医院进行。采用系统随机抽样共选取406个样本，这些样本要么发放问卷进行自我管理，要么进行访谈。使用χ2检验和多元线性回归进行统计分析。结果 研究结果显示，73.2%的受访者对铁和叶酸补充剂的依从性高，12.8%的受访者依从性中等，14%的受访者依从性低。超过一半的受访者对贫血、缺铁以及铁和叶酸补充剂的知识不足。多元线性回归显示，感知到的严重性、感知到的障碍和社会支持是铁和叶酸补充剂依从性的决定因素（p<0.05）。结论 本研究推断，孕妇对贫血、缺铁以及铁和叶酸补充剂缺乏知识和认识，改善社会支持和对疾病严重性的认知，并尽量减少相关障碍，可能会使孕妇在铁和叶酸补充剂的依从性方面取得更好的结果。
