Prenatal Care Utilization for Mothers from Low-Income Areas of New Mexico, 1989–1999

BACKGROUND: Prenatal care is considered to be an important component of primary health care. Our study compared prenatal care utilization and rates of adverse birth outcomes for mothers from low- and higher-income areas of New Mexico between 1989 and 1999. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Prenatal care indicators included the number of prenatal care visits and the first month of prenatal care. Birth outcome indicators included low birth weight, premature birth, and births linked with death certificates. The results of our study indicated that mothers from low-income areas started their prenatal care significantly later in their pregnancies between 1989 and 1999, and had significantly fewer prenatal visits between 1989 and 1997. For the most part, there were not significant differences in birth outcome indicators between income groupings. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings suggest that while mothers from low-income areas received lower levels of prenatal care, they did not experience a higher level of adverse birth outcomes.