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Older women with higher education and wealth index, who had a say in choosing their husband, who made at least five antenatal visits during the last pregnancy, and who delivered their baby by Cesarian section were more likely to consume iron supplements for ≥90 days than their counterparts. The findings of the study revealed that only 30% of the women reported using iron supplements for ≥90 days during pregnancy. Thus, we investigated the predictors of consumption of iron supplements for ≥90 days during pregnancy in Pakistan using the nationally representative Demographic Health Survey of Pakistan 2017–2018.
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Although there is some evidence on the predictors of iron deficiency anemia among Pakistani women, there is a dearth of research on the factors associated with iron consumption among women during pregnancy. To reduce the prevalence of anemia and associated morbidity and mortality, we need to understand the characteristics of those women most affected by iron deficiency anemia and understand predictors of iron supplement consumption. Iron supplementation during pregnancy is considered one of the important strategies to alleviate the burden of anemia in Pakistan. Iron deficiency anemia is a major public health problem among women of reproductive age (WRA) mainly in low-middle income countries such as Pakistan. There is a need to increase the number of ANC visits and the government should take necessary steps to improve access to iron supplements by targeting disadvantaged and vulnerable women who are younger, less educated, poor, and living in rural areas. These findings demonstrate complex predictors of iron consumption during pregnancy in Pakistan. In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, we found that factors such as women’s age (≥ 25 years) (adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) = 1.52 95% CI: 1.42–1.62)], wealth index (rich/richest) (aPR = 1.25 ), primary education (aPR = 1.33 ), ≥ five antenatal care visits (aPR =2.65 ), history of the last Caesarian-section (aPR = 1.29 ) were significantly associated with iron consumption for ≥90 days.
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ResultsĪround 30% of the women reported consumed iron tablets for ≥90 days during their last pregnancy. We analyzed the data that accounted for complex sampling design by including clusters, strata, and sampling weights. Women who had last childbirth 5 years before the survey and who responded to the question of iron intake were included in the final analysis ( n = 6370). The primary outcome of the current study was the consumption of iron supplementation for ≥90 days during the pregnancy of the last birth. We analyzed dataset from the nationally representative Pakistan Demographic Health Survey 2017–2018. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the predictors of iron consumption for at least ≥90 days during pregnancy in Pakistan. Although there is some evidence on the predictors of iron deficiency anemia among Pakistani women, there is a very limited understanding of factors associated with iron consumption among Pakistani pregnant women. Iron supplementation is considered an imperative strategy for anemia prevention and control during pregnancy in Pakistan.