title: The cost of prenatal care attendance and pregnancy outcomes in low-income working women.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. stringer@nursing.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stringer
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ratcliffe
authors.forename: Emily C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Linda P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: 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*