TITLE:
Relationship between prenatal care and the outcome of pregnancy in low-risk pregnancies
AUTHORS:
Tehereh Ashraf-Ganjoei, Fatemeh Mirzaei, Fatemeh Anari-Dokht
KEYWORDS:
Prenatal Care, Maternal Complications, Neonatal Complications
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.1 No.3,
September
30,
2011
ABSTRACT: Introduction: This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between prenatal care and outcome of pregnancy. Method: This is a cross-sectional study on 210 pregnant women referring to Afzalipour Hospital for their labor, consisting of 140 women with adequate care and 70 with inadequate care. The outcome of pregnancy for mother and newborn was compared between the two groups. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 15. P value ≤ 0.05 was considered as significant and the power of statistical test was 80%. Findings: The findings indicate that the age of women with inadequate care was lower compared to those receiving adequate care (p = 0.003). Furthermore, women with inadequate care had lower education (p = 0.00007) and their prenatal care started in more advanced gestational ages (p = 0.0003). Neonates born to women with inadequate care tended to have lower birth weights (p = 0.05) and higher rates of admission to NICU (p = 0.02). Conclusion: Our findings indicate that women with lower age and education received less prenatal care and adequate prenatal care results in better birth weights and decreased rate of admission in NICU.