Clinical and laboratory antenatal profile screening and its associate factors among pastoralist women in Northern Part of Kenya

IntroductionAll pregnant women are encouraged to visit Antenatal Care (ANC) during pregnancy to ensure their wellbeing and that of their unborn baby. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that all pregnant women attend antenatal clinics for care at least eight times during pregnancy. During antenatal care a series of essential tests are done for pregnant women, both clinical examination and laboratory screenings to detect potential issues which will guide clinicians on management. This study aims to investigate the clinical examination and laboratory screening profile results of pastoralist pregnant women and its associated factors during their first ANC visit in Marsabit County, Kenya.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among pregnant women who attended Integrated Maternal Mobile (IMMH) outreach clinics for ANC in 10 mobile pastoralist communities. Data were collected on demographic information, clinical examination information, and laboratory profile screening outcomes. Frequency and percentages were used to describe the categorical variables and means and standard deviations were used to describe the continuous variables. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was conducted using IBM SPPS 27.0 following STROBE guidelines. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.ResultsData (N = 237) were extracted, the mean age was 26.62 ± 5.371, of which the majority were in the age group of 20–29, 212 (89.5%) were married 180 (75.9%) and multigravida, 27 (11.4%) visited ANC and 121 (51.1%) traveling more than 15 km to seek healthcare services. The mean weight was 55.56 ± 9.019 kg, mean blood pressure systolic was 118.94 ± 19.95 mmHg, and diastolic was 73.87 ± 13.46 mmHg. Out of all specimens processed and tested, 135 (57%) were anaemic with Hgb