PREVALENCE AND PREVENTIVE MEASURES FOR GESTATIONAL DIABETES AMONG CHILDBEARING MOTHERS IN OWERRI NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF IMO STATE
ABSTRACT
The study was designed to determine the prevalence and preventive measures of diabetes among child bearing mothers (CBM) in Owerri North LGA of Imo state from 2004-2013. To achieve these purpose seven specific objectives with corresponding research questions were posed and three null hypotheses were formulated. Ex-post facto research design using the retrospective survey was used for the study. The population for the study was 3560 childbearing mothers and 356 were selected as sample size through simple random sampling technique, also 20, 280 folders from the selected health facilities were used. Inventory proforma and questionnaire forms were used as instruments for the data collection, research formula for prevalence rate, percentage, frequency, counts, mean and chi-square statistics (X2) used for data analysis. The major findings of the study were that; the number of diabetic childbearing mothers in Owerri North LGA from 2004 – 2013 was 46, prevalence rate of Diabetes mellitus among Childbearing mothers in Owerri North LGA was at 2.3 per thousand, the trend of prevalence is fluctuating, the highest prevalence (41.3%) based on age was recorded between age of 40years and above, the highest prevalence (54.3%) according to parity occurred among Childbearing mothers of 4 and above. The highest prevalence of Diabetes mellitus based on level of education (37.0%) occurred among non-formal educated Childbearinrg mother.. The three null-hypotheses which stated that there were no significant difference in the prevalence of diabetes among Childbearing mothers according to age,parity and level of education respectively was tested using Chi-square at .05 level of significance and all were accepted [ (X2=26.595, P value =.873, df = 36, p=.05), (X2 value =14.810, P value =.675, df =18, p =.05),(X2 value =13.691, P value =.984,df =27, p =.05)].This study found low prevalence rate with fluctuating trend, which prompted the researcher to make some relevant recommendations such as establishing International Diabetes Federation in LGAs, making diabetic laboratory test free, creating awareness on diabetes prevention among childbearing mothers and establishing both secondary and tertiary health facilities with adequate specialists to manage the diagnosed diabetics childbearing mothers and their babies.