title: The association of low socio-economic status in metropolitan Adelaide with maternal demographic and obstetric characteristics and pregnancy outcome.
abstract: The South Australian perinatal statistics collection for 1988 was used to consider the association of low socio-economic status in metropolitan Adelaide (South Australia) with maternal demographic and obstetric characteristics and pregnancy outcome in 12047 singleton births. Socio-economic status--low, middle or high--was inferred from the socio-economic rating of the postcode of residence. Chi-squared analyses were carried out to test for significant trends in proportions of pregnancy and pregnancy outcome variables across the socio-economic groupings. There was trend for the proportions of adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes to decrease with increasing level of socio-economic status. Logistic regression analysis, adjusted for maternal age, marital status, race, parity and gestational age, confirmed the findings of the trend analyses, namely that mothers from the poor socio-economic areas were at a greater risk for poor pregnancy outcome. These poor outcomes included Apgar scores of less that 7 at both 1 and 5 minutes after birth, delay in onset of regular breathing of 5 minutes or longer; the need for intubation; the use of narcotic antagonists; low birthweight of under 2500 g; the need for special nursey care; and neonatal death.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology Branch, South Australian Health Commission, Adelaide.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Jonas
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Roder
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001724:Birth Weight; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006786:Hospitals, Urban / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007745:Labor Onset; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017533:Marital Status; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D007744:Obstetric Labor Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012923:Social Class; D013021:South Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population