RESEARCH ARTICLE
Obstetrics Outcome after a Nutritional Health Education Program for Pregnant Females at Zagazig University Hospitals; An Interventional Study
Al-Zahraa Mohammad Soliman1, *, Al-Said Hassan1, Howaida Henry Fahmy1, Amira E. Abdelsalam1, Mostafa Abdo Ahmed Salem2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2019Volume: 12
First Page: 496
Last Page: 503
Publisher ID: TOPHJ-12-496
DOI: 10.2174/1874944501912010496
Article History:
Received Date: 22/10/2019Revision Received Date: 13/11/2019
Acceptance Date: 14/11/2019
Electronic publication date: 16/12/2019
Collection year: 2019
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Nutrition during pregnancy is an important element for the pregnant women and their developing fetus, they must take enough calories and nutrients to provide the essential requirements for both themselves and their fetus and to prevent complications of abnormal weight gain in pregnancy.
Objectives:
To determine the effect of the nutritional health education program on changing knowledge, attitude, and practice towards a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy, obtaining optimal weight gain and consequently its effect on maternal and fetal outcomes.
Subjects and Methods:
An interventional study (pre-post test), in Zagazig university antenatal care outpatient clinic was conducted.
Subjects' Criteria:
135 pregnant females in the first trimester aged 18-35 years who did not have any chronic medical disorder with Body Mass Index between 18.5 and 24.9 kg/m2 were enrolled.
Methods:
Data collection was done using a semi-structured questionnaire about females’ socio-demographic characteristics, obstetric, family and clinical history. Health education sessions were applied to the pregnant females and their knowledge, attitude, and practice about healthy nutrition were assessed before and after the intervention. Ultrasound was performed, maternal and fetal outcomes were detected.
Results:
This study was conducted on 135 pregnant females from whom 9 cases had excluded at the time of delivery due to the detection of ultrasound abnormalities and 16 women were dropped out during the follow-up period. After the nutritional education program, the proportions of adequate knowledge, attitude, and practice were increased from (28.2% to 77.3%), (8.2% to 75.5%) and (32.7% to 77.3%) respectively (p-value <0.001). There was a statistically significant higher cesarean section, Intra and post-partum complications (85.7%vs 42.9%p<0.001), (71.4% vs17.2% p<0.001) and (25.7%vs7.1% p=0.008) [Odds (95% C.I); 8 (6.7-11.3), 12.1(11.7-13.9) and 4.5(1.2-8.7)], higher neonatal weight and neonatal blood glucose (p<0.001& 0.009) in over-weight versus optimal weight gain groups respectively.
Conclusion:
The intervention was effective in increasing pregnant females’ knowledge, attitude, and practice towards healthy nutrition during pregnancy, obtaining optimal weight gain and improving maternal and fetal outcomes.
