Outcome of pregnancy during imprisonment.
The scant available information on pregnancies in women in prison suggests that the outcome is poor. We studied a cohort of 69 incarcerated pregnant women cared for over a one-year period. They were compared with 69 controls who were matched for age, parity, race and date on which they entered prenatal care. Thirty-six percent of the prisoners acknowledged using illicit drugs, primarily cocaine, during their pregnancies as compared to 3% of the controls. Sixty-eight percent of the incarcerated women smoked cigarettes as compared with 20% of the controls. In spite of those facts, there was a tendency toward better pregnancy outcomes among the prisoners. They were less likely to deliver prematurely (10% vs. 22%) and significantly less likely to experience premature rupture of the membranes (2.8% vs. 2.6%, P less than .001).
Egley
C C
CC
Wake Medical Center, Raleigh, NC 27610.
Miller
D E
DE
Granados
J L
JL
Ingram-Fogel
C
C
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009657:North Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011295:Prenatal Care; D011329:Prisoners; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D014621:Vagina / Q000382:microbiology; D015430:Weight Gain