Abstract:
Introduction: Gestational diabetes mellitus is a is a condition in which a hormone made by the placenta avoids the body from using insulin effectively and glucose builds up within the blood rather than being absorbed by the cells with first recognition during pregnancy. It affects 12.8% of pregnant women in Ethiopia. Many scholars discussed gestational diabetes prevalence, risk factors and its effect on pregnancy. However, there is a paucity of evidence on pregnant women’s knowledge about gestational diabetes mellitus in Ethiopia. Objective: To asses knowledge of GDM and associated factors among pregnant women visiting antenatal care clinic at referral hospitals, Amhara region, Ethiopia, 2023 Methods: An institutional based cross-sectional study has been conducted on 600 pregnant women at referral hospitals in Amhara region from December 1 to March 30th 2023. Sample was selected by ‘multi stage’ sampling technique. Data was collected by a pretested, structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Epi data 4.6 and SPSS version 21 were used for data entry and analysis, respectively. The multivariable logistic regression analysis was fitted to identify factors associated with the outcome variable. The level of significant association was determined at a p-value of ≤ 0.05. Results: In this study, 32% of pregnant women had good knowledge of gestational diabetes mellitus, with a 95% confidence interval (28.25-35.74). Family history of diabetes (AOR=2.31, 95% CI: 1.36, 3.94), health education about gestational diabetes mellitus (AOR=3.21, 95%, CI: 1.84, 5.60), level of education (AOR=2.25, 95%, CI: 1.17, 4.31), history of screening for GDM (AOR=3.78, 95% CI:2.39, 5.97), history of ANC follow-up (AOR=2.03, 95% CI: 1.13, 3.63) and previous history of GDM (AOR=4.25, 95% CI: 1.97, 9.15) were variables significantly associated with knowledge of gestational diabetes mellitus at p<0.05. Conclusion and recommendations: The gestational diabetes mellitus knowledge of women in this study was nearly one third of the total knowledge. We should give a great emphasis on health education to improve the knowledge of GDM among pregnant women in Ethiopia.
