An appraisal of the utilization of antenatal services in primary health care.

This study was done to evaluate the practice of users of the antenatal care services of the primary health care centers, and correlated our findings with some of the risk factors and the outcome of the pregnancies. The records of 1946 women receivign antenatal care in the primary health care centers in Al-Baha region were reviewed. The majority of the women (58.5%) visited the clinic five times or less, while only 15.2% visited more than eight times. There was no significant association between maternal age and the frequency of visits. There was a statistically significant association between parity, gestational age at first visit, place of delivery, and outcome of the pregnancy on one hand and the number of antenatal visits on the other (P < 0.05). The majority of pregnant women (60.8%) were first seen before the 20th week of gestation. Eight percent delivered in the centers and 16.4% delivered at home. There were significant associations between maternal age, parity, and gestational age at presentation. There was also an association with a previous history of recurrent abortions and intrauterine fetal death. Previous bleeding and cesarean sections showed no significant relationship with maternal age at the time of first population.