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Knowledge, Attitude and Understanding of Danger Signs In Pregnancy among Pregnant Women Attending the Outpatient Department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Background: Pregnancy is usually an exciting in the life of a family. Sometimes a pregnant women may experience signs and symptoms which signal danger. Danger signs in pregnancy are those signs that a pregnant women will see, or those symptoms that she will fell which indicate that somethings is going wrong with her or with the pregnancy. Lack of knowledge of obstetric danger signs delays care seeking and contributes to maternal mortality in Bangladesh. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and understanding of danger signs in pregnancy among pregnant women. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology outpatient department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital from July to December 2017. Fifty antenatal mothers were selected by purposive sampling according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were collected using a structured data collection sheet and analysed with SPSS version 19 using the chi-square test, with a two-sided p value of 0.05 considered significant. Results: Among the respondents, 52.0% were aged 21 to 25 years, 70.0% were housewives, 56.0% had secondary or higher education and 58.0% lived in urban areas. Severe vaginal bleeding was the danger sign most often identified (64.0%), followed by severe headache or blurred vision (46.0%), absent or decreased fetal movement (46.0%), unusual abdominal pain (32.0%) and leaking of fluid from the birth canal (30.0%). Foul smelling vaginal discharge was reported least (6.0%). Most respondents agreed on the importance of knowing danger signs (90.0%) and on seeking help from older women (86.0%) and 62.0% agreed that danger signs can be prevented. Knowledge was significantly associated with occupation (p=0.001), category of family (p=0.013) and place of living (p=0.019). Conclusion: Knowledge of danger signs in pregnancy was poor among the women studied and was significantly associated with area of residence and type of family

Source: ARC Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics

DOI: 10.20431/2456-0561.1004005