Assessing the Effect on Outcomes of Public or Private Provision of Prenatal Care in Portugal

To evaluate whether public and private prenatal care users experience similar outcomes, taking into consideration maternal pre-pregnancy social and clinical risk. We studied 7,325 women who delivered single newborns at five public maternity units in Porto, Portugal. Health behaviors and prenatal care were self-reported; pregnancy complications and delivery data were retrieved from medical files. The odds of inadequate weight gain, continuing to smoke, gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes, caesarean section, preterm birth, low birthweight, and small- and large-for-gestational-age were estimated for public and private providers using logistic regression, stratified by pre-pregnancy risk profile, adjusted for maternal characteristics. 38 % of women used private prenatal care. Among low-risk women, public care users were more likely to gain excessive weight (OR 1.26; 95 % CI 1.06–1.57) and be diagnosed with gestational diabetes (OR 1.37; 95 % CI 1.01–1.86). They were less likely to have a caesarean (OR 0.63; 95 % CI 0.51–0.78) and more likely to deliver small-for-gestational-age babies (OR 1.48; 95 % CI 1.19–1.83). Outcomes were similar in high-risk women although preterm and pre-labor caesarean were less frequent in public care users (OR 0.64 95 % CI 0.45–0.91; OR 0.69 95 % CI 0.49–0.97). The amount of care was not significantly related to risk profile in either case. Public care users experienced similar outcomes to those using private care, despite higher pre-pregnancy disadvantage. Low-risk women need further attention if narrowing inequalities in birth outcomes remains a priority.