Pregnancy danger signs: Knowledge and health-seeking behavior among reproductive age women in southwest Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Warning signs of pregnancy are not reliably predictable. But, knowing these early warning signs is very important for pregnant women to eliminate serious complications and start treatment immediately. The higher level of maternal mortality can be reduced by providing quality maternity service and empowering women with good knowledge of the danger signs of pregnancy and promoting appropriate health-seeking behavior. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the knowledge of pregnancy danger signs and health-seeking behavior among reproductive age women in southwest Ethiopia. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was carried out with 526 randomly selected women from 1 to 30 January 2019. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21. Both bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine factors associated with the outcome variable. The level of significance was declared at a p-value < 0.05. RESULTS: The proportion of mothers who had good knowledge of pregnancy danger signs were 43.2%. The majority (65%) of those surveyed mentioned vaginal bleeding as a pregnancy danger sign. The factors associated with good knowledge of pregnancy danger signs were husbands with secondary education and above (adjusted odds ratio = 2.52, 95% confidence interval (1.08–5.91) monthly income ⩾ 1000 Ethiopian Birr (adjusted odds ratio = 2.64, 95% confidence interval (1.48–4.71) being multigravida (adjusted odds ratio = 2.14, 95% confidence interval (1.17–3.94) and last delivery at the health facility (adjusted odds ratio = 6.84, 95% confidence interval (4.02–11.63) The proportion of mothers who experienced pregnancy danger signs and had good health-seeking behavior was 72.7%. CONCLUSION: The knowledge of pregnancy danger signs among reproductive age women was low in the study area. This indicates the large proportions of women who do not know the danger signs are likely to delay in deciding to seek care when they face the problem. Therefore, empowering women, improving the quality of health information about danger signs during antenatal care follow-up, and promoting institutional delivery are the recommended interventions.