Bilal Khan, Muhammad Usman Khan, Wefaq Ullah, Akram Ullah, Mumtaz Ali.
Maternal Concepts and Practices of Antenatal Care in patients with Spinal Dysraphism.
Pak J Neuro Surg Jan ;21(3):150-4.

Objective: To know about the antenatal care practice and concepts of the mothers who are having child with Spinal Dysraphism. Materials and Methods: This was a cross sectional study conducted in the Department of Neurosurgery, Lady Reading hospital Peshawar between July 2013 and January 2014 (seven months). All patients who were having a spinal dysraphism were approached and history was taken from the mother or chaperon. The patients included all who presented to the out patients clinic, those admitted for surgery, and who had a surgical complications like the tethered cord syndrome. The patient's name, gender, address, age of the mother, maternal views about antenatal care, time of first antenatal visit if any, history and time of folate intake, number of total children and the serial number of the child affected. Other variables like socio-economic status, educational status of the mother was also noted. The data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 17 and was expressed in tables and charts. Results: During the study period 67 patients' particulars were noted. The age range was from 3 days to 12 years, there were 36 males and 31 females with a male to female ratio approaching nearly 1:1. The mother's age range was from 18 to 43 years and the socioeconomic status was low income in 43 patients. 23.73% of mothers have no idea of antenatal care, 34.32% mothers were not having any history of antenatal care, and only 22.38% were having a prenatal visit in the first trimester of pregnancy. 25 mothers were not having history of folate intake and only 8 (11.94%) were having positive history of taking in the first trimester. 18/67 (26.86%) of the affected children were the first child and the rest were the second or third. Conclusion: none of the mother had enough knowledge and practices to prevent MMC. The first antenatal visit and folate intake was not at proper time to prevent MMC. If the woman with children been advised about folate intake, at least a third of the patients been prevented, since in majority it was the second child affected.   Abbreviations: MMC: Myelomeningocele. HC: Hydrocephalus.

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