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 Nov 15;7(11):e017122.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017122.

Antenatal care services and its implications for vital and health outcomes of children: evidence from 193 surveys in 69 low-income and middle-income countries

Jana Kuhnt  1 , Sebastian Vollmer  1   2
Affiliations

Antenatal care services and its implications for vital and health outcomes of children: evidence from 193 surveys in 69 low-income and middle-income countries

Jana Kuhnt et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: Antenatal care (ANC) is an essential part of primary healthcare and its provision has expanded worldwide. There is limited evidence of large-scale cross-country studies on the impact of ANC offered to pregnant women on child health outcomes. We investigate the association of ANC in low-income and middle-income countries with short- and long-term mortality and nutritional child outcomes.

Setting: We used nationally representative health and welfare data from 193 Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 1990 and 2013 from 69 low-income and middle-income countries for women of reproductive age (15-49 years), their children and their respective household.

Participants: The analytical sample consisted of 752 635 observations for neonatal mortality, 574 675 observations for infant mortality, 400 426 observations for low birth weight, 501 484 observations for stunting and 512 424 observations for underweight.

Main outcomes and measures: Outcome variables are neonatal and infant mortality, low birth weight, stunting and underweight.

Results: At least one ANC visit was associated with a 1.04% points reduced probability of neonatal mortality and a 1.07% points lower probability of infant mortality. Having at least four ANC visits and having at least once seen a skilled provider reduced the probability by an additional 0.56% and 0.42% points, respectively. At least one ANC visit is associated with a 3.82% points reduced probability of giving birth to a low birth weight baby and a 4.11 and 3.26% points reduced stunting and underweight probability. Having at least four ANC visits and at least once seen a skilled provider reduced the probability by an additional 2.83%, 1.41% and 1.90% points, respectively.

Conclusions: The currently existing and accessed ANC services in low-income and middle-income countries are directly associated with improved birth outcomes and longer-term reductions of child mortality and malnourishment.

Keywords: epidemiology; perinatology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sample deduction. ANC, antenatal care; LMIC, low-income and middle-income countries.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. UN Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 3: ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. United Nations Sustainable Development Home page; 2017. http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/health/ (accessed Aug 12 2017).
    1. WHO. Global Health Observatory (GHO) data: Neonatal Mortality. World Health Organization. 2017. http://www.who.int/gho/child_health/mortality/neonatal_text/en/ (accessed 12 Aug 2017).
    1. UNICEF. Committing to child survival: a promise renewed. Progress report 2015. United Nations Children’s Fund. 2015.
    1. Imdad A, Bhutta ZA. Effects of calcium supplementation during pregnancy on maternal, fetal and birth outcomes. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol 2012;26 Suppl 1:138–52. 10.1111/j.1365-3016.2012.01274.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gupta A. Breastfeeding and child health. Economic and Political Weekly 2006.

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources