A total of 1617 participants who had complete responses to the main outcome measure were included in the final analysis. We compared the demographic characteristics of participants that did not respond to the question (n=90) on contraception to those that responded (n=1617) and found no significant difference. Most participants were single (69.1%), unemployed (75.1%), had a grade 7-12 level of education (88.4%) and were HIV positive before their index pregnancy (81.3%). Participants’ average age was 29.66 [standard deviation (SD)=6.18] years.
Rate of uptake of immediate postpartum contraception
The majority of the participants (93%) had initiated one form of contraception within three days’ post-delivery. Short-acting contraception (Nuristerate and Depo-Provera) was the predominant method received by the participants (n=1218; 75.3%). A small proportion of women initiated the long-acting reversible contraception (implants and IUD) (8.5%) and permanent method (tubal ligation) (8.2%) (Table 1).
Table 1: Demographical characteristics of respondents
Variable
|
Frequency (n-1617)
|
Percentages (%)
|
Age
|
|
|
20 and below
|
111
|
6.9
|
21-25
|
348
|
21.5
|
26-30
|
436
|
27.0
|
31-35
|
415
|
25.7
|
36-40
|
247
|
15.3
|
Above 40 years above
|
60
|
3.7
|
Marital status
|
|
|
Married
|
299
|
18.5
|
Single
|
1118
|
69.1
|
Cohabiting
|
177
|
10.9
|
Divorced/ separated
|
23
|
1.4
|
Educational Level
|
|
|
No formal education
|
5
|
0.3
|
Grade 1-6
|
75
|
4.7
|
Grade 7-12
|
1406
|
88.4
|
Tertiary
|
104
|
6.5
|
Employment
|
|
|
Unemployed
|
1204
|
75.1
|
Employed
|
399
|
24.9
|
Smoking status
|
|
|
Smoked during pregnancy
|
86
|
5.3
|
Quit smoking during pregnancy
|
76
|
4.7
|
Never smoked
|
1455
|
89.7
|
Alcohol use
|
|
|
Drank during pregnancy
|
212
|
13.1
|
Stopped drinking during pregnancy
|
416
|
25.7
|
Never drank alcohol
|
988
|
61.1
|
Prenatal HIV status
|
|
|
Positive
|
1303
|
81.3
|
Negative
|
82
|
5.1
|
Unknown
|
217
|
13.5
|
Abortion history
|
|
|
Never had abortion
|
1310
|
81.0
|
Ever terminated a pregnancy
|
307
|
19.0
|
Parity
|
|
|
1
|
485
|
30.0
|
2 and 3
|
916
|
56.6
|
4 and above
|
216
|
13.4
|
Significant determinants of uptake of immediate postpartum contraception
In the chi-square test; age, place of residence, educational status, employment, parity and abortion history were not significantly associated with the uptake of immediate postpartum contraception. Only alcohol use, being married and unknown/negative status at first antenatal care were negatively associated with the uptake of immediate postpartum contraception (Table 2).
Table 2: Relationship between demographic characteristics and uptake of immediate postpartum contraception by chi-square test
Variable
|
Yes
|
No
|
P-value
|
Age
|
|
|
|
20 and below
|
98 (88.3)
|
13 (11.7)
|
0.365
|
21-25
|
324 (93.1)
|
24 (6.9)
|
|
26-30
|
410 (94.0)
|
26 (6.0)
|
|
31-35
|
387 (93.3)
|
28 (6.7)
|
|
36-40
|
233 (94.3)
|
14 (5.7)
|
|
Above 40 years above
|
55 (91.7)
|
5 (8.3)
|
|
Marital status
|
|
|
|
Married
|
273 (91.3)
|
26 (8.7)
|
0.011
|
Single
|
1054 (94.3)
|
64 (5.7)
|
|
Cohabiting
|
157 (88.7)
|
20 (11.3)
|
|
Divorced/ separated
|
23 (100.0)
|
0 (0.0)
|
|
Area
|
|
|
|
Rural
|
494 (93.7)
|
33 (6.3)
|
0.646
|
Semi-Urban
|
706 (93.6)
|
48 (6.4)
|
|
Urban
|
284 (92.2)
|
24 (7.8)
|
|
Educational Level
|
|
|
|
No formal education
|
4 (80.0)
|
1 (20.0)
|
0.628
|
Grade 1-6
|
71 (94.7)
|
4 (5.3)
|
|
Grade 7-12
|
1310 (93.2)
|
96 (6.8)
|
|
Tertiary
|
96 (92.3)
|
8 (7.7)
|
|
Employment
|
|
|
|
Unemployed
|
1126 (93.5)
|
78 (6.5)
|
0.218
|
Employed
|
368 (92.2)
|
31 (7.8)
|
|
Alcohol use
|
|
|
|
Drank during pregnancy
|
193 (91.0)
|
19 (9.0)
|
0.045
|
Stopped drinking during pregnancy
|
380 (91.3)
|
36 (8.7)
|
|
Never drank alcohol
|
934 (94.4)
|
55 (5.6)
|
|
HIV status at first antenatal booking
|
|
|
|
Positive
|
1233 (94.6)
|
70 (5.4)
|
<0.001
|
Negative
|
69 (84.1)
|
13 (15.9)
|
|
Unknown
|
190 (87.6)
|
27 (12.4)
|
|
Abortion history
|
|
|
|
Never had abortion
|
1217 (92.9)
|
93 (7.1)
|
0.199
|
Ever terminated a pregnancy
|
290 (94.5)
|
17 (5.5)
|
|
Parity
|
|
|
|
1
|
448 (92.4)
|
37 (7.6)
|
0.216
|
2 and 3
|
862 (94.1)
|
54 (5.9)
|
|
4 and more
|
197 (91.2)
|
19 (8.8)
|
|
In the unadjusted regression analysis (Table 3), negative/unknown HIV status at first antenatal care booking and caesarean section delivery were associated with lower odds of initiating short-acting contraception. However, single status, never drank alcohol, and having two and three children were associated with higher odds of initiating short-acting method. The direction and magnitude of effects remain for the significant variables after adjusting for all covariates (Table 4).
In both the unadjusted and adjusted regression analyses (Table 3 and 4), the magnitude and direction of effect remain the same for the significant variables; having a negative/unknown HIV status at booking was associated with lower odds of receiving long-acting reversible contraception. However, the odds of receiving long-acting contraception were higher among those who had caesarean section delivery. Though, having two to three was significant in the unadjusted model for the long-acting reversible contraception, this effect was lost after adjusting for covariates in the adjusted model (Table 4).
Table 3: Unadjusted multinomial logistic regression model showing odds for using different categories of contraception
Variables
|
Unadjusted model
|
Short-acting
|
Long-acting
|
Permanent method
|
contraception
UOR (CI)
|
contraception
UOR (CI)
|
UOR (CI)
|
Age
|
|
|
|
Above 30
|
0.89 (0.60-1.33)
|
1.06 (0.64-1.76)
|
9.56 (5.01-18.24)***
|
30 and below (ref)
|
|
|
|
HIV Status at first antennal care booking
|
|
|
|
Negative or Unknown
|
0.40 (0.26-0.61)***
|
0.32 (0.18-0.59)***
|
0.18 (0.09-0.36)***
|
Positive (ref)
|
|
|
|
Alcohol Use
|
|
|
|
Never
|
1.75 (1.18-2.59)*
|
1.14 (0.69-1.89)
|
1.24 (0.75-2.06)
|
Drank (ref)
|
|
|
|
Marital Status
|
|
|
|
Single
|
1.72 (1.07-2.79)*
|
1.17 (0.63-2.16)
|
0.91 (0.49-1.70)
|
Cohabiting
|
0.73 (0.39-1.37)
|
0.78 (0.34-1.78)
|
0.81 (0.36-1.82)
|
Divorced/separated
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
Married (ref)
|
|
|
|
Abortion of history
|
|
|
|
Never had abortion
|
0.85 (0.50-1.46)
|
0..71 (0.37-1.38)
|
0.38 (0.20-0.71)*
|
Ever terminated a pregnancy (ref)
|
|
|
|
Parity
|
|
|
|
1
|
1.63 (0.91-2.94)
|
1.50 (0.65-3.47)
|
0.03 (0.01-0.10)***
|
2 and 3
|
1.93 (1.11-3.37)*
|
2.33 (1.06-5.09)*
|
0.46 (0.25-0.86)***
|
4 and above (ref)
|
|
|
|
Mode of Delivery
|
|
|
|
Caesarean section delivery
|
0.65 (0.44-0.97)*
|
7.72 (4.05-14.70)***
|
4.58 (2.56-8.20)***
|
Vaginal delivery (ref)
|
|
|
|
*** The p-value <0.001; * p-value <0.05; ref: reference; UOR: Unadjusted Odds Ratio; CI: Confidence Interval;
*The reference category is: not using contraception
In both the unadjusted and adjusted regression analyses (Table 3 and 4), the magnitude and direction of effect remain the same for the significant variables; age above 30 years and caesarean section delivery were associated with higher odds of initiating a permanent contraception. Similarly, having a negative/unknown HIV status at booking and one to three children were associated with lower odds of initiating a permanent contraception. In the unadjusted model, abortion was significantly associated with the lower odds of receiving permanent contraception but became insignificant after adjusting for confounding factors.
Table 4: Adjusted multinomial logistic regression model showing odds for using different categories of contraception
Variables
|
Adjusted model
|
Short-acting contraceptive method
UOR (CI)
|
Long-acting contraceptive method
UOR (CI)
|
Permanent method
UOR (CI)
|
Age
|
|
|
|
Above 30
|
0.78 (0.49-1.24)
|
0.88 (0.49-1.58)
|
4.83 (2.34-9.97)***
|
30 and below (ref)
|
|
|
|
HIV Status at first antenatal care booking
|
|
|
|
Negative or Unknown
|
0.38 (0.25-0.60)***
|
0.31 (0.16-0.58)***
|
0.27 (0.12-0.59)*
|
Positive (ref)
|
|
|
|
Alcohol Use
|
|
|
|
Never
|
1.61 (1.07-2.43)*
|
1.13 (0.67-1.93)
|
1.12 (0.64-1.97)
|
Drank (ref)
|
|
|
|
Marital Status
|
|
|
|
Single
|
1.76 (1.04-2.97)*
|
1.16 (0.59-2.26)
|
1.54 (0.77-3.09)
|
Cohabiting
|
0.84 (0.43-1.61)
|
0.74 (0.31-1.78)
|
1.02 (0.42-2.50)
|
Divorced/separated
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
Married (ref)
|
|
|
|
Abortion of history
|
|
|
|
Never had abortion
|
0.79 (0.45-1.39)
|
0.81 (0.40-1.62)
|
0.52 (0.26-1.03)
|
Ever terminated a pregnancy (ref)
|
|
|
|
Parity
|
|
|
|
1
|
1.46 (0.72-2.95)
|
0.93 (0.35-2.42)
|
0.04 (0.10-0.16)***
|
2 and 3
|
1.94 (1.05-3.59)*
|
1.64 (0.70-3.84)
|
0.45 (0.22-0.93)*
|
4 and above (ref)
|
|
|
|
Mode of Delivery
|
|
|
|
Caesarean section delivery
|
0.65 (0.43-0.98)*
|
7.79 (4.04-15.04)***
|
6.52 (3.48-12.22)***
|
Vagina delivery (ref)
|
|
|
|
*** The p-value <0.001; * p-value <0.05; ref: reference
*The reference category is: not using contraceptives