The Socio-economic Status Predicting Women’s Reproductive Health: A Prospective Cohort Study in Ardabil City, Iran, 2017-2020

Women often have many reproductive health problems in developing countries. Economic and social factors play a vital role in health outcomes. This study aimed-predict women’s reproductive health from socio-economic status in Ardabil City, Iran in 2020.

A cross-sectional study was conducted based on a prospective cohort study in Ardabil in March 2020. Out of 9,000 eligible participants (35-70 years old and living in Ardabil), 368 women were included in the study with systematic random sampling. A checklist was used-collect all patient information from the Ardabil Persian Cohort study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, logistic regression, and multivariate regression analysis. The significance level was 5%. Data were examined using statistical SPSS software, version 21.

The results showed a significant statistical relationship between socio-economic status and women’s reproductive health (P<0.001). Women with higher socio-economic status had fewer reproductive health issues, such as infertility (P<0.001), and tubectomy (P=0.004), abortion (P<0.001), stillbirth (P<0.001), atypical menopause (P<0.001) and hysterectomy (P=0.021).

The findings showed a significant inequality in reproductive health status among women who were at different socio-economic levels. Policymakers should consider these results-promote women’s reproductive health.