Published in:
01-12-2017 | Original Paper
Disparities in Prenatal Care Utilization Among U.S. Versus Foreign-Born Women with Chronic Conditions
Authors:
Samantha S. Goldfarb, Whitney Smith, Anne E. Epstein, Stevie Burrows, Martha Wingate
Published in:
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
|
Issue 6/2017
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Abstract
We examined disparities in prenatal care utilization (PNCU) among U.S. and foreign-born women with chronic conditions. We performed a cross-sectional analyses using data from 2011 to 2012 National Center for Health Statistics Natality Files (n = 6,644,577) to examine the association between maternal nativity (U.S. vs. foreign-born), presence of a chronic condition (diabetes or hypertensive disorder) and PNCU. After adjustment for selected maternal characteristics, overall and among those with chronic conditions, foreign-born women reported significantly lower odds of intensive and adequate PNCU and higher odds of intermediate and inadequate PNCU than U.S.-born women. Few differences in report of no care were found by maternal nativity. These findings suggest that foreign-born women may be receiving some form of prenatal care, but adequacy of care is likely to be lower compared to U.S.-born counterparts, even among those with chronic conditions.