The cost of prenatal care attendance and pregnancy outcomes in low-income working women.
OBJECTIVE
To examine personal costs (dollar costs and time spent) associated with prenatal care (PNC) attendance and outcomes (gestation length, PNC adequacy, and birth weight) for low-income, working women (N = 165).


METHODS
Prospective, descriptive study.


METHODS
Participants were recruited from a pre-natal clinic located at an inner city tertiary care center.


METHODS
A convenience sample of 165 low-income, working women.


METHODS
Personal costs were measured as dollar costs and time spent associated with PNC attendance. Perinatal outcomes were measured as gestation length, PNC adequacy, and birth weight.


RESULTS
Per visit, the mean cost associated with PNC was 33.31 dollars (range 1-125.60 dollars, SD = 32.33 dollars) and the time needed to attend care was 228 min (20-720, SD = 205). Women delivered at 37.8 (18-42) weeks; 17.6% of the women received inadequate PNC, and 17.0% of the women delivered low-birth-weight newborns.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings indicated that personal costs associated with PNC attendance were not associated with inadequate care attendance.
Stringer
Marilyn
M
School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. stringer@nursing.upenn.edu
Ratcliffe
Sarah J
SJ
Evans
Emily C
EC
Brown
Linda P
LP
D000041:Absenteeism; D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000191:economics*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010298:Parity; D010414:Pennsylvania; D011203:Poverty / Q000191:economics*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000191:economics*; D018566:Pregnancy, High-Risk; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014186:Transportation / Q000191:economics; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014931:Women, Working / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*