The Frequency and Content of Prenatal Care Determine Birth Place: A Community Based Case-Control Study

BACKGROUND: High-quality prenatal care services could decrease maternal-neonatal mortality and morbidities. The aim of this study was to compare institutional and unplanned home deliveries with regard to the use and content of prenatal care services. METHODS: The study was conducted in 2011 with two hundred and twenty-nine mothers with unplanned deliveries at home as study group and 458 mothers having institutional deliveries as controls living in Istanbul. The content of prenatal care was evaluated in accordance with the national ministry of health prenatal care management guidelines and the data was collected by a questionnaire with face to face interview. RESULTS: Women with unplanned deliveries at home use prenatal care services less frequently. Percentage of mothers that had home deliveries and did not use prenatal care services was 16.2% while this was only 3.4% in women having institutional deliveries (P=0.001). Moreover, all parameters of prenatal care were poor in content compared to women with institutional deliveries. CONCLUSION: Adequate prenatal care services in terms of quantity and quality can promote institutional deliveries.