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Comparison of prenatal care coverage in early adolescents, late adolescents, and adult pregnant women in the Peruvian Amazon
Author(s) -
Ryan Julia A.,
Casapía Martín,
Aguilar Eder,
Silva Hermánn,
Joseph Serene A.,
Gyorkos Theresa W.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijgo.2009.06.014
Subject(s) - medicine , prenatal care , pregnancy , demography , young adult , pediatrics , obstetrics , population , gerontology , environmental health , genetics , sociology , biology
Objective To compare prenatal care coverage between adolescent (early and late) and adult pregnant women in Iquitos, Peru. Methods A random sample of 4467 birth records was collected. Multivariate analyses were performed to compare prenatal care coverage in all adolescent (10–14 years, 15–19 years) and adult (≥ 20 years) age groups and then for primiparous women only. Results The mean number of visits was 5.0 for adolescents aged 10–14 years, 6.1 for adolescents aged 15–19 years, and 6.2 for women aged 20 years or older. For primiparous women, the means were 5.1, 6.2, and 6.8, for the respective age groups. Both the proportion attending and the number of prenatal visits were significantly lower in primiparous adolescents aged 10–14 years than in primiparous women aged 20 years or older (aOR 0.25; 95% CI, 0.10–0.62 and aRR 0.83; 95% CI, 0.74–0.94, respectively). Conclusion All women attended prenatal care more frequently than the WHO's recommended 4 visits; however, early adolescents attended significantly less often than late adolescents or adult women. Further study of this inequality is warranted to adequately inform local health services.