What socioeconomic factors are associated with different levels of antenatal care visits in Bangladesh? A behavioral model.

We identify the socioeconomic determinants of three levels of antenatal care (ANC) visits (no, intermediate [1-3], and recommended [≥4]) in Bangladesh using a behavior model framework for health care utilization. Using multinomial logistic regression, we found that different levels of visits had different determinants; for example, media exposure increased the likelihood of intermediate compared with no visits while desire for pregnancy increased the likelihood of recommended compared with intermediate visits. We therefore highlight that ANC policies or interventions should be target-group specific because determinants differ depending on level of ANC visits.