Geographical weighted regression analysis of delayed antenatal care initiation and its factors among all reproductive-aged women in Ethiopia, 2016.

Background: Delayed antenatal care is when the first visit is carried out after 12 gestational weeks. Despite the fact that many studies have been conducted on antenatal care initiation, little attention has been paid to its spatial pattern. Therefore, this study examine geographical weighted regression analysis of delayed antenatal care initiation and its factors among all reproductive-aged women in Ethiopia.

Objective: To assess geographical weighted regression analysis of delayed antenatal care initiation and its factors among all reproductive-aged women in Ethiopia, 2016.

Methods: This study was grounded on the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey. It incorporated extracted sample size of 4740 (weighted) reproductive-aged women. ArcGIS version 10.8 and SaTScan™ version 9.7 software were employed to investigate geographic information. To distinguish factors associated with hotspot areas, local and global models were fitted.

Result: the geographic pattern of Delayed antenatal care initiation was clustered (Moran's I = 0.38, p < 0.001). Kuldorff's spatial scan statistics discovered three significant clusters. The most likely cluster (LLR = 66.13, p < 0.001) was situated at the zones of SNNP and Oromia regions. In the local model, being uneducated, being poor wealth, having an unwanted pregnancy, and having higher birth order were factors associated with spatial variation of delayed antenatal care.

Conclusion: The spatial pattern of delayed antenatal care in Ethiopia is clustered. Maternal education, wealth status, pregnancy desirability, and birth order were predictor variables of spatial variation of delayed antenatal care. Therefore, designing a hotspot area-based interventional plan could help to improve early ANC initiation.