Use of supplementation therapy in pregnancy and effecting factors

Aim The health status of the mothers and babies form the basis of the population. There are some studies emphasizing the importance of the supplementation therapy in pregnancy for the health of mothers and babies. Regarding to this result, the knowledge level of the pregnants for supplementation therapy must be increased and sufficient time must be given to pregnant women. The aim of this study is to determine the use of supplementation therapy in pregnancy and effecting factors among pregnant women referred to Adnan Menderes University Medical School Hospital Gynecology Clinic. Material and Method Face to face interview was conducted to pregnant women, who were at their second and third trimester and referred to Adnan Menderes University Medical School Hospital gynecology out-patient clinic from 1st of June to 30st of September 2016. The study is a single centered, cross-sectional analytical study. Four hundred two (82,4%) of 488 pregnant women who met inclusion criterias participated in the study. Data of the study is statistically evaluated. Descriptive statistics are number, percent, mean, minimum and maximum values and chi-square test is used for statistical analysis. p<0,05 is taken as significancy value. Findings The mean age of the participants was 29. About one third of the pregnant women (n=129; 32,1%) were graduated from high school/university, most of the pregnant women (n=322; 80,1%) were living in urban region. An important part of pregnancies (n=274; 68,2%) were planned, 42,3% (n=170) of pregnancies were the first pregnancy. Only 16,2 percent (n=65) of pregnant women have received consultancy before the pregnancy. 17,9 percent (n=72) of pregnant women were not using folic acid, 6,6 percent (n=25) were not using iron and 18,4 percent (n=74) were not using vitamin D. The most remarkable findings of our study is that only 21,6 percent (n=87) of pregnant women were using sufficient amount of folic acid, 43,9 percent (n=167) were using sufficient amount of iron, 19,4 percent (n=78) were using sufficient amount of vitamin D. The most frequent situtaions which enhance use of supplementation therapy regularly were that, belieiving its usefulness (n=237; 59%) and having informed by health provider (n=210; 52%). Higher usage of supplementation therapy were associated by living in an urban region, graduation from high school/university, higher income and being health care professional herself or her partner. The planned pregnancies, being informed in the pre-conceptional period were associated with increased use of supplementation therapy. We did not find significant relationship between with the use of supplementation therapy and taking medical support before pregnancy, using supplementation therapy in previous pregnancies, knowing her own family practitioner or being followed by her family practitioner. In our study, eventhough meeting her family practitioner (n=381; 94.8%), being informed by family practioner (n=250; 62,2%) and followed by family practitioner (n=277; 68.9%) quite frequent given first consultancy by a family physician about supplementation therapy (n=70; 17,4%) and taking consultancy from family physician before pregnancy (n=9; 2,2%) were quite low. Results Despite the use of supplementation therapy in pregnancy is frequent, the rate of sufficent use is quite low. Using of the supplementation therapy increases with being informed and consulted by health care provider which is an important task of primary care physician. Our findings reveal that family physicians must have more effective role on encouraging the supplementation therapy in pregnancy. Key words: Family practice, pregnancy, folic acid, iron, vitamin D