Predicting Factors in Iron Supplement Intake among Pregnant Women in Urban Care Setting

Background: The world health organization estimates that 58% of pregnant women in developing coun tries are anemic. In spite of the fact that most ministries of health in developing countries have policies to provide pregnant women with iron supplementation, prevalence of maternal anemia has not declined sig nificantly. The aim of this study was to assess adherence to the current recommendation in the local popu lation and to describe factors associated with taking iron supplementation during pregnancy. Methods: A questionnaire assessing the use of prenatal iron supplementation was distributed among women recently having delivered in Urmia, west Azerbaijan Province, northwest Iran. The question-naire consisted of two sections. The first included demographic information and the second part cov-ered questions regarding duration of iron supplementation, awareness of per partum anemia and manage ment including benefits and side effects of iron supplementation. SPSS version 10 was used for sta tistical analysis; data were analyzed by Chi-Square and logistic regression. Results: Eighty seven percent of participants took iron supplements for at least 4 months. Training dur ing pregnancy was associated with longer duration of iron use. In logistic regression analysis nulipar ity was the only variable, which remained in the model .Knowledge of participants on anemia, was obviously poor. Health care stuffs were the main source of information. Conclusion: The compliance was rather high but knowledge of subjects was low. Therefore, increas-ing effort is required to mobilize health workers to distribute information on anemia prevention and us ing iron supplements properly.