Assessing the determinants of the frequency and contents of antenatal care visits in Bangladesh by using binary logistic regression

Abstract

Abstract The elements of antenatal care (ANC) services covered by ANC visits, in addition to the quantity of ANC visits, have a significant impact on the quality of ANC services. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently advised using a core set of ANC services in addition to a minimum of eight ANC visits to ensure safe motherhood. This study investigated the degree of compliance with the WHO-recommended number and content of ANC services throughout pregnancy in Bangladesh by looking at the levels and factors of frequency and content of ANC visits in Bangladesh. The data for the study comes from the 2017–2018 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS), which covered a nationally representative sample of 20,250 ever-married women aged 15–49 years. Data derived from 4,946 mothers who gave birth in the three years preceding the survey constituted the study subjects. Of the 4,946 mothers in the sample, most of them are middle aged and in age group 20–24 (35.4%) and 25–29 (26.2%). Respondents are from all regional place of Bangladesh and most of them are rural (65.6%). Receiving a greater number of ANC services items is significantly positively correlated with the mothers and their husband’s education level. This study also reveals that the higher the wealth indexes the higher the chance of completing ANC visit. In Bangladesh, there has been an unsatisfactory degree of coverage and content of ANC visits. To determine the reasons for Bangladesh's underutilization of ANC services, more research is required. The quality of ANC services in Bangladesh could be raised by having a better grasp of the identified risk factors and implementing them into short- and long-term initiatives.