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 itshighest level at the end of the pregnancy. this study was preformed to evaluate the knowledge andpractice of pregnant women in fars province about supplements containing iron intake. data werecollected by a questionnaire, including their demographic information and questions about theimportance 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 pregnantwomen 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 pregnantwomen were aware about the reason of iron supplementary use during pregnancy, 86.3% knew themethod 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 thetablet correctly. further studies are needed to judge about the percentage of correct daily iron need, thepercentage of correct use and digestive system complications.