Primary pediatric care. A comparison of use by adolescent and older mothers.
This survey compares the use of pediatric services during the first year of life by infants whose mothers were under 17 years of age with a random sample of babies born during the same period and at the same hospital but to older mothers. Both sets of mothers were found to have similar patterns of acute and well-child care. For adolescent mothers, use of a group practice emphasizing provider continuity significantly increased well-child visits and immunizations. The adolescent mother's late entry into prenatal care appeared to be related to a greater use of the emergency room and to inadequate well-child care. The existence of a sibling was related to inadequate well-child care for adolescents' babies but to improved levels of well-child care among older mothers' babies. These findings suggest that close monitoring of adolescent mothers with more than one child may improve the quality of medical care for their infants.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008423:Maternal Age; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D010372:Pediatrics; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*