Aims & Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) among women attending ANC and those not receiving ANC with reference to recognizing the danger signals of high risk pregnancy. Material and Methods: The survey was conducted using a predesigned, structured questionnaire. 150 women who had availed antenatal care and 150 women who had never availed ANC responded to the questionnaire.  All data was entered in SPSS (Statistical package for Social Sciences) version 10.0 (SPSS, Chicago, Illinois, USA). Cross tabulations were obtained in order to compare women receiving and not receiving antenatal care. Results: The mean age of women in our study was 25±7.1 years. Mean family income per month was Rs 10.000±8,000 and 19.5% of the women were illiterate with majority (81.5%) being housewives. Antenatal care used in any of the previous pregnancy was 65.02% in the ANC group. 35.8% women had studied up to secondary school and 39.8% of their husbands had higher education. Statistically significant difference was found among women who received antenatal care as compared to those who did not in recognizing fever (OR=2.8, 95%CI 1.4-5.5), persistent vomiting (OR=2.35, 95%CI 1.19-4.64) , dizziness and fainting (OR= 1.18, 95 % CI 0.57-2.42) and antepartum haemorrhage (OR=2.1,95% CI 1.2-3.86) as danger signs in pregnancy. There was no significant difference between the two groups with regards recognizing breathlessness, persistent palpitations, generalised oedema, previously scarred uteri, multiple abortions and jaundice in pregnancy. Conclusion: Significant number of women had a basic knowledge of danger signs for anaemia, hypertension and infections in the proactive ANC group; however women are still negligent regarding unsupervised MTP Pill intake, unsafe abortions, scarred uteri, medical disorders with pregnancy. Therefore, health personals should strengthen their awareness creation activities in the community with emphasis on the predictors of high risk pregnancy.

Keywords: Antenatal Care; KAP; Oedema.