KNOWLEDGE an‎d PRACTICE OF PREGNANT WOMEN IN FARS PROVINCE ABOUT INTAKE OF IRON SUPPLEMENTS

Need of mother and fetus to iron gradually increases during pregnancy and reaches its highest level at the end of the pregnancy. This study was preformed to evaluate the knowledge and practice of pregnant women in Fars province about supplements containing iron intake. Data were collected by a questionnaire, including their demographic information and questions about the importance and method of consumption, unused complications and the method of iron table intake, completed by face to face interview using simple nonrandom sampling method in 2997 pregnant women of urban and rural areas. Among studied women, 44.4% of women were in the first pregnancy, 25.9% in the second, 14.2% in the third and 15.5% in fourth and later pregnancies; 75.9% of pregnant women were aware about the reason of iron supplementary use during pregnancy, 86.3% knew the method of administration and 91% used supplements containing iron after fourth month of pregnancy. The lowest rate of use was seen in Abadeh and Eghlid and the highest in Estahban; 43.3% used the tablet correctly. Further studies are needed to judge about the percentage of correct daily iron need, the percentage of correct use and digestive system complications.