Background: In Ethiopia, little is known about pregnancy among rural women. Proper maternal health care\r\ndepends on clear understanding of the reproductive health situation. The objective of this study was to identify\r\npredictors of unintended pregnancy in rural eastern Ethiopia.\r\nMethodology: This study was part of pregnancy surveillance at Kersa Demographic Surveillance and Health\r\nResearch Center, East Ethiopia. Pregnant women were assessed whether their current pregnancy was intended or\r\nnot. Data were collected by lay interviewers using uniform questionnaire. Odds Ratio, with 95% confidence interval\r\nusing multiple and multinomial logistic regression were calculated to detect level of significance.\r\nResults: Unintended pregnancy was reported by 27.9% (578/2072) of the study subjects. Out of which, 440 were\r\nmistimed and 138 were not wanted. Unintended pregnancy was associated with family wealth status (OR 1.47;\r\n95% CI 1.14, 1.90), high parity (7 +) (OR 5.18; 95% CI 3.31, 8.12), and a longer estimated time to walk to the nearest\r\nhealth care facility (OR 2.24; 95% CI: 1.49, 3.39).\r\nIn the multinomial regression, women from poor family reported that their pregnancy was mistimed (OR 1.69; 95%\r\nCI 1.27, 2.25). The longer estimated time (80 + minutes) to walk to the nearest health care facility influenced the\r\noccurrence of mistimed pregnancy (OR 2.58; 95% CI: 1.65, 4.02). High parity (7+) showed a strong association to\r\nmistimed and unwanted pregnancies (OR 3.11; 95% CI 1.87, 5.12) and (OR 14.34; 95% CI 5.72, 35.98), respectively.\r\nConclusions: The economy of the family, parity, and walking distance to the nearest health care institution are\r\nstrong predictors of unintended pregnancy. In order to reduce the high rate of unintended pregnancy Efforts to\r\nreach rural women with family planning services should be strengthened.
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