Effect of four or more prenatal care contacts on healthcare seeking for immediate postpartum complications in Ethiopia: A propensity score matching analysis

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of four or more prenatal care (PNC) contacts on healthcare-seeking behavior (HSB) for immediate postpartum complications (IPPC) in Ethiopia. METHODS: We used data from the Performance Monitoring for Action Ethiopia longitudinal surveys of baseline and 6-week postpartum surveys conducted between 2019 and 2020. We compared HSB for IPPC between those who reported having four or more PNC and those who had not. A total of 750 women who had IPPC were included in the analysis. We employed Propensity Score Matching (PSM) analysis, and the average treatment effect on treated (ATT) was used. RESULTS: After adjusting for covariates using PSM, women with four or more PNC contacts were 11% more likely to seek care for IPPC than similar women with fewer than four PNC contacts (ATT = 0.111, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.03-0.19. Alternative multivariable logistic regression analysis supports the original analysis; four or more PNC contacts were positively associated with HSB for IPPC (adjusted odds ratio 1.67, 95% CI 1.09-2.57). CONCLUSION: Women with at least four PNC contacts were more likely to seek healthcare for IPPC than women with fewer contacts. However, the effect remains limited. Priorities during PNC include counseling on postpartum danger signs and complication readiness after childbirth, which may improve HSB during IPPC.