Socio-demographic Profile of Older First Time Mothers at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Southern Nigeria
Keywords:
PrimiparousAbstract
Objective: The study set out to determine the socio-demographic profile of women who have their first childbirth at age ≥30 years in Calabar, Southern Nigeria.
Methodology: This was across sectional study applying a semi-structured interview.Participants were recruited from the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital over a 5 month period. We compared the socio-demographic characteristics of the primiparous women aged ≥30 years with a control group of multiparous women, also aged ≥30 years, but who had ≥1 previous delivery before age 30.
Results: Eighty-six and 254 women formed the study and control groups respectively. Women in the study group were more likely to have university degrees (P= 0.000) or to still be undergraduates (P=0.0002) than women in the control group. The proportion of women in professional occupations was higher than in the control group (P = 0.047%), while the proportion of housewives was significantly lower (P= 0.002). The proportion of Annang women in the study group was significantly higher than in the control group (P= 0.011), while that of Ibibio women was significantly lower (P = 0.0006). Muslims were significantly less likely to delay motherhood till age 30 (P=0.038), while the differences in Church affiliations for the 2 groups of women were not significant (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Compared to others, university-educated women, women in professional occupations and Annang women living in Cross River State are more inclined to commence motherhood at age ≥30 years.
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