ABSTRACT
Objectives:
To evaluate the performance of a
questionnaire in assessing the
pregnancy status of
women of reproductive age during preventive
chemotherapy interventions.
Methods:
A
questionnaire (20 questions) was administered to 1217
women of reproductive age (≥18 years) from Ilemela and Buchosa districts, northwestern
Tanzania. A single
urine sample was collected from each of them and tested using a rapid
pregnancy test for presence of pregnant.
Results:
Overall, 10.8% (132/1217) of the
women reported to be pregnant at the specific question in the
questionnaire. The rapid
pregnancy test identified 15.1% (184/1217) of the
women to be pregnant. In total, 86.4% (114/132) of the
women who reported to be pregnant during the
interview were confirmed to be pregnant using the rapid pregnant test. The question on
pregnancy demonstrated an overall
sensitivity of 62% and
specificity of 98.3%.
Conclusions:
The
questionnaire performance was not completely satisfactory; however, it managed to identify
pregnant women in the
first trimester. The question on the last date of the start of the menstrual period yield the highest
sensitivity and appeared to be the key one used in combination with other questions. Further validation of these results in other countries with different
cultures are recommended to fully evaluate the performance of this
method.