WHAT FACTORS ARE OF IMPORTANCE FOR INFANTS USE OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL-CARE DURING THE FIRST 18 MONTHS

Objective - To study factors of importance for infants' use of health and medical care. Design - We studied the medical records of the mothe r during pregnancy,(at the health centre, at the antenatal clinics, an d at the department of obstetrics and gynaecology) and of her infant d uring the first 18 months of life (at the health centre, at the child health clinic, and at the departments of paediatrics and oto-rhino-lar yngology). We also interviewed the mother when her infant was 18 month s old. Setting - Teleborg health centre, Vaxjo, southern Sweden. Subje cts - 206 infants and their mothers. Main outcome measures - Medical v isits, to doctor or district nurse, during the infants' first 18 month s of life, and factors of potential importance for those visits. Resul ts - A stepwise linear multiple regression analysis showed that the fo llowing factors were of importance for the infant's use of health and medical care: number of mother's visits to the health and medical serv ices during pregnancy, mother being a primipara, and mother being a bl ue-collar worker. The model (12.98 + 0.52 (no. of mother's visits) 2.19 (if primipara) + 1.48 (if blue-collar worker)) was able to explai n 8.6% of the number of infant's visits. Conclusion - The studied fact ors explained only a minor part of the infants' use of health and medi cal care.