Equity in maternal health outcomes in a middle-income urban setting: a cohort study

BACKGROUND: Low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with more adverse perinatal health outcomes, risk factors and lower access to and use of maternal health care services. However, evidence for the association between SES and maternal health outcomes is limited, particularly for middle-income countries like sub-Saharan Ghana. We assessed the association between parental SES and adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes of Ghanaian women during pregnancy, delivery and the postpartum period. METHODS: A prospective cohort study of 1010 women of two public hospitals in Accra, Ghana (2012–2014). SES was proxied by maternal and paternal education, wealth and employment status. The association of SES with maternal and perinatal outcomes was analyzed with multivariable logistic and linear regression. RESULTS: The analysis included 790 women with information on pregnancy outcomes. Average age was 28.2 years (standard deviation, SD 5.0). Over a third (n = 292, 37.0%) had low SES, 176 (22.3%) were classified to have high SES using the assets index. Nearly half (n = 374, 47.3%) of women had lower secondary school or vocational training as highest education level. Compared to women with middle assets SES, women with low assets SES were at higher risk for miscarriage (odds ratio, OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.06 to 2.45) and instrumental delivery (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.03 to 2.94), but this association was not observed for the other SES proxies. For any of the maternal or perinatal outcomes and SES proxies, no other statistically significant differences were found. CONCLUSION: Women attending public maternal health care services in urban Ghana had overall equitable maternal and perinatal health outcomes, with the exception of a higher risk of miscarriage and instrumental delivery associated with low assets SES. This suggests known associations between SES, risk factors and outcomes could be mitigated with universal and accessible maternal health services. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12978-019-0736-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.