PRENATAL-CARE AMONG WOMEN DELIVERING IN T HE CANTON VAUD - RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF 854 CASES

The association between prenatal care and infant health has been shown in many studies. Therefore accurate information on prenatal care is r equired to assess the organization of preventive measures aiming at re ducing in neonatal mortality any morbidity. We retrospectively collect ed data on 854 pregnancies. According to a classification scheme devel oped by Kessner; 61.6% of women had access to adequate prenatal care. Overall, the proportion of adequate prenatal care was lower among mult iparas, and in this subgroup we found a lower rate for women with base line insurance. In the primiparas subgroup we found a lower rate of a dequate prenatal care for foreigners, women under 20 years or unmarrie d mothers, and for women without professional activity during pregnanc y besides preterm birth was more frequent amongst women in the group o f prenatal care qualified as intermediate or inadequate. The frequency of pregnancy visits and the Kezsner index are discussed in a literatu re review. The association between socio-economic indicators and prena tal care was unexpected considering the overall wealth of Switzerland. With a 6.8 parts per thousand infant mortality registered in 1989, th is country can be considered to have one of the lowest rates in the wo rld. These findings nevertheless suggest the way to possible additiona l gains by interventions targeted to specific socio-economic groups.