Prevalence of disease before and during pregnancy versus prenatal monitoring in Portuguese and immigrant women

摘要

Background: During pregnancy, being an immigrant can be a determinant factor in the search forappropriate healthcare.Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of disease before and duringpregnancy and compare with norma; prenatal monitoring for Portuguese and immigrant pregnant women.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 2407 mothers, of which 753 (31.3%) wereimmigrant and 1654 (68.7%) were Portuguese. The Portuguese mothers had a minimum age of 15 and amaximum age of 44 (mean age=29.99±5.42) and the immigrants had a minimum age of 16 and a maximum of45 (mean age=29.30±5.76). The data collection protocol consisted of observing medical records and a face-tofaceinterview conducted by midwives in training. Data collection occurred on the second day of delivery, from2010 to 2011, in 30 Portuguese maternity wards. We considered “Adequate Obstetric Surveillance” (AOS) ifmothers had six or more appointments and the first had occurred during the first trimester. The prevalence wasexpressed in proportions. We used the Chi-square test to compare proportions.Results: Among women who were monitored during pregnancy and who had no previous disease31.3% of Portuguese women and 35.6% immigrant women developed a disease during pregnancy. Of those whowere monitored during pregnancy and who also had previous disease 61.8% of Portuguese and 62.5% ofimmigrant women also developed disease during pregnancy. As for the women who were not monitored duringpregnancy and who had previous disease 36.8% of Portuguese and 57.1% of immigrant women developeddisease during pregnancy. Among those who were not monitored during pregnancy and who had no previousillness, 26.0% of Portuguese and 29.1% of immigrant women developed disease during pregnancy. Whether ornot they had previous diseases 57.1% of Portuguese women and 44.5% of immigrants who were monitored didnot develop disease during pregnancy, whereas of those who were not monitored, (13.3% Portuguese and 28.3%immigrants), 3.6% of Portuguese women and 8.5% of immigrant women developed disease during pregnancy.The chi-square test shows that there is statistical significance between the groups, p <0.001.Conclusion: Immigrant mothers presented worse health indicators related to monitoring and thepresence of diseases before and during pregnancy than their Portuguese counterparts.