Determinants of compliance with routine antenatal medications among pregnant women in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Background/Aims Routine antenatal medications are essential drugs used during pregnancy to improve maternal and fetal outcomes and prevent complications. These include iron, folic acid and sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine. This study evaluated pregnant women's knowledge of and compliance with these medications in selected antenatal care centres in Lagos, Nigeria. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 356 pregnant women. Multistage random sampling was used to select the study population and structured questionnaires were administered. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and hypotheses were tested using a Chi-squared test. Results The majority (63.7%) of participants had adequate knowledge of routine antenatal medications. There was high compliance with folic acid (64.0%), iron (71.5%) and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (56.5%), with overall 64.9% showing high compliance with routine antenatal medications. Conclusions Participants demonstrated high knowledge of and compliance with routine antenatal medications, which is vital to improving maternal health and preventing complications.