Compliance to iron-folic-acid supplementation and associated factors among pregnant women: A cross-sectional survey in a district of West Bengal, India.

Background: Iron-deficiency anemia is considered to be a major health problem in India. This can complicate a normal pregnancy resulting in poor maternal and fetal outcomes. Iron-folic-acid (IFA) supplementation to antenatal and postnatal mothers given through the National Health Mission (NHM) serves as a major tool to combat this problem.

Aim: This study aimed to assess compliance to IFA supplement and associated factors among antenatal mothers in a district of West Bengal, India.

Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted among 208 pregnant mothers attending different subcenters, using multistage sampling technique. Data were collected on their demographic, obstetric profile, compliance to IFA tablets, and knowledge on various health care-related factors through direct interviews. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 (licensed) considering the confidence interval to be 95%.

Results: Compliance rate was 81.74%. The most common cause of noncompliance was forgetfulness (73.7%). On multivariate regression analysis, age, history of deworming, and education became the significant predictors for noncompliance to IFA.

Conclusions: Compliance to IFA supplementation was better than the national average, although deworming and education can lead to a better outcome. Health workers played a pivotal role for the success of this national program.