Gl. Olson et al., ACTIVE RECRUITMENT INTO HEALTH-CARE AND ITS EFFECT ON BIRTH-WEIGHT AND GESTATIONAL-AGE AT DELIVERY, Journal of maternal-fetal investigation, 7(3), 1997, pp. 122-125
Objective: To analyze the effect of active recruitment of pregnant wom
en into the health care system and to determine whether pregnancy outc
omes differ when compared with a non-solicited group. Methods: The Bal
timore Project began in November 1989 and was continued until April 19
93 when it was supplanted by Baltimore's Healthy Start Project. Both p
rojects involved the active recruitment of pregnant women into the hea
lth care system. The catchment area was characterized by the highest i
nfant mortality rate in Baltimore City, as identified by census tract
data. During the study period 138 women who delivered at the Universit
y of Maryland Hospital had been contacted by the Baltimore Project and
comprised the case group. Two comparison groups were identified. The
first, a historic group, was derived from the same census tract catchm
ent area but delivered at the University of Maryland Hospital in the 2
years prior to the initiation of the project, The second, a contempor
aneous group, was comprised from similar but adjacent census tracts, w
ith deliveries occurring during the same time frame as the Baltimore P
roject. Variables of interest included gestational age at the first pr
enatal visit, gestational age at delivery, and birth weight. Statistic
al analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The
only statistically significant difference was noted for the gestationa
l age at delivery between the case and historic control groups. This d
ifference was a lower gestational age at delivery in the group receivi
ng the intervention. Conclusion: A program that includes active recrui
tment into the health care system appears to have no detectable impact
on the number of prenatal visits, gestational age at delivery, or bir
th weight in the population studied.