Table 3.
Baseline characteristics of pregnant women by health literacy levels (the Mutaba’ah study).
| Characteristics | N | Level of health literacy | p | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limited | Marginal | Adequate | |||
| Age, years (mean ± SD) | 2663 | 31.3 ± 6.0 | 30.6 ± 5.9 | 30.8 ± 6.1 | 0.368 |
| Gravidity | 2586 | 0.544 | |||
| First pregnancy | 37 (25.5) | 155 (26.8) | 537 (28.8) | ||
| 1–2 pregnancies | 30 (20.7) | 147 (25.4) | 465 (25.0) | ||
| 3–4 pregnancies | 40 (27.6) | 148 (25.6) | 481 (25.8) | ||
| ⩾5 pregnancies | 38 (26.2) | 129 (22.3) | 379 (20.4) | ||
| Number of children | 2586 | 0.088 | |||
| First child | 42 (29.0) | 168 (29.0) | 582 (31.3) | ||
| 2–3 live births | 55 (37.9) | 261 (45.1) | 845 (45.4) | ||
| 4–5 live births | 32 (22.1) | 110 (19.0) | 330 (17.7) | ||
| >5 live births | 16 (11.0) | 40 (6.9) | 105 (5.6) | ||
| Education | 2557 | <0.001 | |||
| More than high school | 50 (35.0) | 274 (47.7) | 1091 (59.3) | ||
| High school or less | 93 (65.0) | 301 (52.4) | 748 (40.7) | ||
| Employment | 2556 | 0.011 | |||
| Yes | 35 (24.7) | 156 (27.1) | 600 (32.6) | ||
| No | 107 (75.4) | 419 (72.9) | 1239 (67.4) | ||
| Social support | 2547 | <0.001 | |||
| Yes | 120 (84.5) | 517 (90.1) | 1703 (93.0) | ||
| No | 22 (15.5) | 57 (9.9) | 128 (7.0) | ||
| Worry about birth | 0.001 | ||||
| Yes | 102 (71.8) | 396 (69.4) | 1136 (62.0) | ||
| No | 2554 | 40 (28.2) | 175 (30.7) | 695 (38.0) | |
| Planned pregnancy | 2569 | 0.804 | |||
| Yes | 87 (60.8%) | 338 (58.3) | 1071 (58.0) | ||
| No | 56 (39.2%) | 242 (41.7) | 775 (42.0) | ||
| Use of contraceptives | 1714 | 0.023 | |||
| Yes | 28 (30.4) | 148 (45.8) | 525 (40.4) | ||
| No | 64 (69.6) | 175 (54.2) | 774 (59.6) | ||
| ANC initiation | 502 | 0.169 | |||
| Late initiation (>4 months since conception) | 21 (63.6) | 58 (52.2) | 170 (47.5) | ||
| Early initiation | 12 (36.4) | 53 (47.8) | 188 (52.5) | ||
| Previous vaccination | 2564 | <0.001 | |||
| Yes | 38 (26.4) | 154 (26.7) | 659 (35.8) | ||
| No | 96 (66.7) | 348 (60.3) | 1015 (55.1) | ||
| I don’t know | 10 (6.9) | 75 (13.0) | 169 (9.2) | ||
| Duration of pregnancy | 2691 | 0.373 | |||
| First trimester | 23 (15.1) | 105 (17.1) | 339 (17.6) | ||
| Second trimester | 48 (31.6) | 181 (29.5) | 637 (33.1) | ||
| Third trimester | 81 (52.3) | 328 (53.4) | 949 (49.3) | ||
SD: standard deviation; ANC: antenatal care.