Prenatal Care Study Disheartening
By Denny Boyles, The Fresno Bee, Calif.
Mar. 31–A three-year study on prenatal care and low birth weight for infants in the San Joaquin Valley shows that the region continues to have problems providing adequate care for new mothers and their babies.
The study, “Challenges to growing a more nurturing San Joaquin Valley,” was conducted by the Central Valley Health Policy Institute at California State University, Fresno, and focused on the role that demographic factors such as race, age, immigrant status and insurance can play in determining whether new mothers get adequate prenatal care.
The results were announced Friday at a March of Dimes health education conference at Children’s Hospital Central California.
For the years 2002 through 2004, researchers looked at birth records, interviewed health-care providers and then did an in-depth study that focused on how a mother’s race and ethnicity shaped the type of care she received.
The study showed that while California had better prenatal care rates than other states, there were still disparities when it came to factors such as race and ethnicity, and even where a mother lived.
For example, according to the study, Asian/Pacific Islander mothers are 27% less likely to receive adequate care than white mothers. For black mothers, the difference was 19%, and for Hispanics it was 17%.
According to the study, language barriers, reimbursement rates, short staffing and staff attitudes toward patients from racial, ethnic or belief backgrounds different from their own all contributed to the different rates of care.
The study was timed to gauge results of Medicaid expansions in California during the 1990s. That expansion was designed to improve prenatal care statewide. The results, the study authors say, were discouraging.
“We did not find great changes during the three-year period of the study,” said Dr. Marlene Bengiamin, a research associate with the institute. “In fact, there was a slight but statistically significant increase in preterm births.”
Dr. John Capitman, executive director of the institute, said the solution may be to provide more personalized care for all mothers, regardless of their race.
“We hope this study will provide community leaders with a comprehensive view of care in this region,” Capitman said. “We know what needs to be done to improve the situation. It’s now a question of political and moral will to take care of the problems.”
Dr. Conrad Chao, chief of obstetrics and gynecology for the UCSF-Fresno medical education program, said the conference and the study brought together people dedicated to giving every baby a healthy start in life.
“It is imperative that those of us in the front lines of care take action to protect the health of mothers and babies in our county,” Chao said. “We hope that through conferences like this, that there will be some decisions made to give a new commitment to health care in the Valley.”
The reporter can be reached at dboyles@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6659.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Fresno Bee, Calif.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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