Factors associated with the quality of prenatal care: an approach to premature birth

Objective: To assess the quality of prenatal care in mothers with premature and term births and identify maternal and gestational factors associated with inadequate prenatal care. Method: Cross-sectional study collecting data with the pregnant card, hospital records and interviews with mothers living in Maringa-PR. Data were collected from 576 mothers and their born alive infants who were attended in the public service from October 2013 to February 2014, using three different evaluation criteria. The association of prenatal care quality with prematurity was performed by univariate analysis and occurred only at Kessner criteria (CI=1.79;8.02). Results: The indicators that contributed most to the inadequacy of prenatal care were tests of hemoglobin, urine, and fetal presentation. After logistic regression analysis, maternal and gestational variables associated to inadequate prenatal care were combined prenatal (CI= 2.93;11.09), non-white skin color (CI= 1.11;2.51); unplanned pregnancy (CI=1.34;3.17) and multiparity (CI= 1.17;4.03). Conclusion: Prenatal care must follow the minimum recommended protocols, more attention is required to black and brown women, multiparous and with unplanned pregnancies to prevent preterm birth and maternal and child morbimortality.