THE PATTERN OF ANTENATAL VISITS WITH EMPHASIS ON GESTATIONAL-AGE AT BOOKING IN RIYADH HEALTH CENTERS

1344 expectant mothers were selected by random sampling from the catch ment population of 15 health centres in Riyadh. The health centres wer e taken to represent all areas of urban Riyadh. These mothers were ask ed to complete a pre-designed questionnaire in Arabic and undergo a st ructured interview by trained midwives to explore their knowledge, att itude and practice toward antenatal visits. It was found that the aver age gestational age at booking was 13 weeks. The number of antenatal v isits achieved during the current pregnancy was 6. 97% of expectant mo thers were aware of the importance of antenatal visits. Various demogr aphic characteristics were studied in relation to the number of antena tal visits achieved and the gestational age at booking. It was found t hat the level of education of both husband and wife and poor obstetric history significantly affected gestational age at booking, (P-values were less than 0.03 and 0.002 respectively). However the family income and gestational age at booking affected the number of antenatal visit s (P-values were less than 0.0003 and 0.0001 respectively). The respon dents' most striking reason for non-compliance was related to accessib ility to health centre. 23.3% thought that the health centres were far away from their residence and they needed to involve the husbands in driving them to health centres. Recommendations were given to improve aspects of accessibility and inviting more antenatal visits in additio n to improving quality of such service.