Tabinda Zaman, Shahzad Ali Khan.
Perinatal outcomes in antenatal service users versus non-users in an insured population of Northern Punjab, Pakistan.
Pak J Public Health Jan ;2(1):53-8.

Background: Studies in developing countries have shown positive effects of antenatal care on perinatal outcomes,including reduced rates of pre-term labour, low birth weight and perinatal death. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted at Social Security Hospital Islamabad to compare perinatal outcomes between antenatal care service users and non-users of social security health centres of Rawalpindi/Islamabad. There were 146 cases of delivery included in study from April 2008 to June 2008. Out of these 146 cases, 76 were Users and 70 Nonusers. The perinatal outcome was characterized by the birth outcome (live birth, still birth, Intra-uterine Death); baby weight; mode of delivery (Normal, complicated, Cesarean); status of pregnancy (Full term, Preterm, Post term); and maternal hemoglobin. These outcomes were compared among Users and Non-users. Results: Results of study showed significant difference between Users and Non-users with better birth outcome (Chi sq. 7.33, p=0.26), baby weight (Chi sq. 13.9, p=0.001) and maternal haemoglobin levels (Chi sq. 9.5, p=0.002) in Users as compared to Non-users. Results also showed there were more chances of being a User in educated women (Chi sq. 17.6, p=0.003). There was no difference in Users and Non-users with reference to maternal age, income, family type, gravidity, distance from hospital, decision of delivery, mode of admission, maternal blood pressure and maternal blood glucose levels. Conclusion: This study signifies importance of antenatal services and its positive effect on perinatal outcome in insured population of Social Security in Pakistan.

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