Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Sep 29;17(1):329.
doi: 10.1186/s12884-017-1522-2.

A systematic overview of the literature regarding group prenatal care for high-risk pregnant women

Brittany M Byerley  1 , David M Haas  2
Affiliations

A systematic overview of the literature regarding group prenatal care for high-risk pregnant women

Brittany M Byerley et al. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. .

Abstract

Background: Group prenatal care (GPC) models have been gaining popularity in recent years. Studies of high-risk groups have shown improved outcomes. Our objective was to review and summarize outcomes for women in GPC for women with specific high-risk conditions.

Methods: A systematic literature review of Ovid, PubMed, and Google Scholar was performed to identify studies reporting the effects of group prenatal care in high-risk populations. Studies were included if they reported on pregnancy outcome results for women using GPC. We also contacted providers known to be utilizing GPC for specific high-risk women. Descriptive results were compiled and summarized by high-risk population.

Results: We identified 37 reports for inclusion (8 randomized trials, 23 nonrandomized studies, 6 reports of group outcomes without controls). Preterm birth was found to be decreased among low-income and African American women. Attendance at prenatal visits was shown to increase among women in GPC in the following groups: Opioid Addiction, Adolescents, and Low-Income. Improved weight trajectories and compliance with the IOM's weight recommendations were found in adolescents. Increased rates of breastfeeding were found in adolescents and African Americans. Increased satisfaction with care was found in adolescents and African Americans. Pregnancy knowledge was increased among adolescents, as was uptake of LARC. Improved psychological outcomes were found among adolescents and low-income women. Studies in women with diabetes demonstrated that fewer women required treatment with medication when exposed to GPC, and for those requiring treatment with insulin, GPC individuals required less than half the dose. Among women with tobacco use, those who had continued to smoke after finding out they were pregnant were 5 times more likely to quit later in pregnancy if they were engaged in GPC.

Conclusions: Several groups of high-risk pregnant women may have benefits from engaging in group prenatal care. Because there is a paucity of high-quality, well-controlled studies, more trials in high-risk women are needed to determine whether it improves outcomes and costs of pregnancy-related care.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This review was exempt from Institutional Review Board approval as a systematic overview of published literature. While participants would have provided consent for the individual studies, no consent obtained for this review.

Consent for publication

n/a

Competing interests

BMB declares no conflict of interests regarding the preparation of this manuscript. DMH has been a part of clinical group prenatal care programs that have received funding from the March of Dimes to help establish Centering Pregnancy prenatal care but has received no salary support in that regard.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA 2009 flow diagram
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Grady MA, Bloom KC. Pregnancy outcomes of adolescents enrolled in a CenteringPregnancy program. J Midwifery Women’s Health. 2004;49(5):412–420. doi: 10.1111/j.1542-2011.2004.tb04435.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Barr WB, Aslam S, Levin M. Evaluation of a group prenatal care-based curriculum in a family medicine residency. Fam Med. 2011;43(10):712. - PubMed
    1. Picklesimer AH, et al. The effect of CenteringPregnancy group prenatal care on preterm birth in a low-income population. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2012;206(5):415.e1–415.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2012.01.040. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tandon SD, et al. Birth outcomes associated with receipt of group prenatal care among low-income Hispanic women. J Midwifery Women’s Health. 2012;57(5):476–481. doi: 10.1111/j.1542-2011.2012.00184.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ickovics JR, et al. Group prenatal care and perinatal outcomes: a randomized controlled trial. Obstet Gynecol. 2007;110(2 Pt 1):330. doi: 10.1097/01.AOG.0000275284.24298.23. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types