SOCIETAL COSTS OF ANTENATAL AND OBSTETRICAL CARE

Perinatal health care is an important part of a nation's health care s ystem. In the Nordic countries this type of health care is provided by the national public health systems without cost for the women. The so cietal costs of the care provided have, however, not been known. The a im of the present study was to estimate societal costs of antenatal an d obstetrical care in a Norwegian county during a twelve month period 1988-89. A total of 1908 women delivered during the registration perio d. The mean total cost was estimated to NOK 36.300 per woman. Primary care antenatal visits accounted for 8%, outpatient visits (inclusive u ltrasound screening) 4%, and hospital care in connection with delivery represented 36% of the total cost. The major determinant of societal costs was sick leave during pregnancy, contributing 43% to the total c ost. This underlines the importance of the ongoing debate about sick l eave in pregnancy. The mean cost of primary care based antenatal care, averaging 10.8 visits per woman, was estimated to NOK 2.800. An impor tant factor was use of patients' own time, accounting for 35% of this amount. The prevalence at the time of admission for delivery of five i mportant complications or obstetrical conditions (pre-eclampsia, place nta previa, intrauterine growth retardation, twin pregnancy, and breec h presentation) was recorded. The mean total societal cost for women w ith the indicator conditions was approximately one fifth greater than for women without any of the indicator conditions.