Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Community Medicine

Background: Risky pregnancy may threaten the health or life of the mother or her fetus. Women with risky pregnancy should receive care from a special team of health care providers to ensure that their pregnancies are healthy and that they can carry their infant or infants to term. Antenatal care indirectly saves the lives of mothers and babies by promoting and establishing good health before childbirth and the early postnatal period the time periods of highest risk. Aim of study: To assess the impact of antenatal care counseling on the outcome of risky pregnant women. Subject and methods: This is a controlled clinical trial on a sample of 202 risky pregnant women, 101 for study group and 101 for the control group attending to the antenatal care clinic within a two primary health care center in El Giza. Data were collected using a specially designed Arabic questionnaire for assessment of the knowledge of pregnant women concerning the ANC health promotion services, the hazards, and bad event that may threaten them during pregnancy. Data were collected pre counseling, post counseling, and after delivery.Results: At the pre-test there was no statistically significant difference in knowledge between both women in study and control group with (P value {u203A} 0.05). While at the post test, women in the study group showed statistically significantly greater knowledge with (P value {u2039} 0.001) than women in the control group. In the study group, 94.4% were full term at labor compared to 75.2% with OR 5.2 95% CI (1.99-13.87) P value {u2039} 0.001, 85.6 % of the study group had neonates with favorable outcome compared to only 53.1% in the control group with OR 6.98 95% CI (3.38-14.4) P value{u2039} 0.001, 90.7% of study group had neonates classified as normal compared to only 53.3% in the control group with OR 8.45 95% CI (3.91-0.11) P value{u2039} 0.001. Only 5.8% of study group had babies with low birth weight compared to 20% in the control group with OR 0.24 95% CI (0.09-0.63) P value{u2039} 0.003

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