• E O Izuka, C E Obiora-Izuka, E E Asimadu, J T Enebe, A D Onyeabochukwu, and U I Nwagha.
• Department of Obstetrics and Gyanecology, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Ituku-Ozalla, Campus, Nigeria.
• Niger J Clin Pract. 2023 May 1; 26 (5): 558565558-565.

BackgroundThe benefits of antenatal care are maximized when women book early for care. However, despite these resounding benefits, women still book late, while others do not book at all, resulting in dire feto-maternal consequences.AimDetermine the effect of late prenatal booking on maternal anemia and birth weight in babies of women who delivered in public health facilities in Enugu and deduce the reasons for booking late.Patients And MethodsA cross-sectional study of two groups of women (235 participants in each group) who delivered in 4 randomly selected hospitals in Enugu. Descriptive statistics were obtained for continuous variables, and frequency and percentages were used for categorical variables. Degree of associations was determined using the Chi-square, the student's t-test, and 2 x 2 table.ResultsThe prevalence of anemia among women that booked late and early were (69.7%; n = 147) and (50.7%; n = 107) respectively. Women who booked late were two times more likely to have anemia than those who booked early (OR = odds ratio, p = p-value, CI = confidence interval,). Those who booked late were six times more likely to deliver low birth weight babies than those who booked early (OR = 5.934, 95% CI = 1.299-27.119, P = 0.022).ConclusionsLate prenatal booking is associated with a high prevalence of maternal anemia in labor, low mean maternal hemoglobin, and low birth weight compared to those of women who booked early and the reasons for booking late are multifactorial.

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