بررسي عوامل موثر بر تولد فرزندان ناخواسته در شهر بابل ، سال 1380

The prevalence of unwanted children and its affecting factors in Babol

Background and purpose : Unwanted birth is a major consequence of improper implementation of family planning programme. This study was aimed to determine the unwanted birth rate and its predisposing factors among married women in Babol population. Materials and methods : A cross-sectional study was conducted on 508 married women referred to a private and a public hospital in Babol city in 2001. A questionnaire was designed to collect information during interview of mothers at the time of the delivery. The logistic regression model was applied to estimate the odds ratio of various factors on the risk of unwanted child using SPSS software. Results : Results showed that the prevalence rate of unwanted birth was 19.5% and the chance of having unwanted children was significantly increased with increasing mothersʹ age as in women aged 20-29, 2.1, 30-39 > 40, the odds ratio were 4.55 and 9.65 times greater than women aged <20 years respectively (P<0.0001). The odds ratio of unwanted children was decreased with increasing the marriage age as the odds ratio for marriage at 20-24, 25-29, and > 30 years were 0.79, 0.63 and 0.19 respectively compared with age <20. By increasing the level of mothersʹ education, the odds ratio had a decreasing trend where the related odds ratio for mothers with education at level of primary school was 0.46 (P=0.09) while for mothers with education at bachelor or higher levels it was 0.12 (P=0.002). For increment of one pregnancy, the chance of unwanted birth was increased by 84% (OR=1.84, P<0.0001). In multivariate analysis of logistic regression model using stepwise method, an increment of a child to the family, the odds ratio was significantly increased but rural residence and an increment of the history of abortion, the odds of unwanted child was significantly decreased (P<0.05). Conclusion : The number of children, the history of pregnancies and abortions, the low level of womenʹs education and lower marriage age and the higher age of mothers reflecting the experience of chance of unwanted child could be used as indicators of recognizing the women need for appropriate contraceptive consulting for prevention of unwanted child.