title: Obstetric care for resident immigrant women in Argentina compared with Argentine women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate inequities in obstetric care in Argentina between women from Argentina and resident immigrants.
  
  
  METHODS
  A secondary analysis was performed using data generated from a prospective, multicenter, descriptive study conducted in 2008 that assessed perinatal care in 12 public hospitals in the city of Buenos Aires and 70 public hospitals in Buenos Aires Province. In the original study, eligible women answered questions about their obstetric history, sociodemographic characteristics, and prenatal and intrapartum care within 48hours of delivery. In the present analysis, the associations between nationality and prenatal care, intrapartum care, and perinatal outcome were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study included 10898 women. The sociodemographic characteristics were similar between the groups, although the proportion of adolescents was higher among Argentines than among immigrants (20.1% versus 12.5%), whereas immigrant women were less educated (30.7% of the immigrant women reported 0-6years of education compared with 7.3% of Argentines). Likewise, there were few differences in obstetric care during pregnancy and delivery, and the pregnancy outcomes were also similar between the groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There were few clinically significant differences in medical care between Argentine women and resident immigrant women during the prepartum and intrapartum periods.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy, Buenos Aires, Argentina. clwendel@gmail.com
authors.forename: Courtney L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Vetter
authors.forename: Luz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gibbons
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bonotti
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: José M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Belizán
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Althabe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001118:Argentina; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005260:Female; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006801:Humans; D018743:Perinatal Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult