NEED FOR JOB ADJUSTMENT IN PREGNANCY - EARLY PREDICTION BASED ON WORKHISTORY

Objective - To examine whether a woman's need for job adjustment in pr egnancy can be predicted by a short interview on working conditions at the first prenatal visit. Design - Midwives included a semi-structure d work history during the interview of unselected first prenatal visit s. Their early prediction about the woman's need for job adjustment wa s compared with the woman's own later report of such need and the need expressed as a risk score for preterm birth based on the woman's self -reported working conditions. Data on both were collected by a questio nnaire presented to the woman at about the 36th week of pregnancy. Set ting - Seven maternity centres in Oslo, Norway, April 1993-March 1994. Subjects - 160 pregnant women in paid work. Main outcome measures - T he proportion of predictions of presence (positive predictive value) o r absence (negative predictive value) of need that was confirmed by th e woman's later report, or the risk score. Results - The positive pred ictive value was 86% and the negative predicitve value 50% with the wo man's later report as reference, and 56 and 79%, respectively, with th e risk score for preterm birth as reference. Conclusion - The work his tory allows early prediction of need for job adjustment in pregnancy.