Date of Award
Spring 3-24-2004
Document Type
Open Access Thesis
Degree Name
MS in Physician Assistant Studies (PA)
Department
Physician Assistant Studies
First Advisor
Heather Bidinger
Second Advisor
Dawn B. Ludwig
Abstract
Background Prenatal care is essential to the health of mothers and their babies. It is unclear what aspects of prenatal care influence maternal and infant health the most. The purpose of this study was to determine if the amount of prenatal care visits a woman thirty-five years or older receives impacts the newborn's health, Methods The medical records of all women thirty-five years of age and older who gave birth at Cambridge Allina Medical Center in a one-year period were reviewed. The number of prenatal care visits for each subject was correlated with the birth weight, gestational age and Apgar scores of her infant. Results A positive correlation was determined between increasing birth weight and amount of prenatal visits, increasing gestational age and amount of prenatal visits, and increasing Apgar scores and amount of prenatal visits. However, these correlations were found to not be statistically significant using a p < 0.05. Conclusions It is not clear how big of an impact the amount of prenatal care visits has on birth outcomes. Further research with a larger and more diverse population should be done to determine how strong of a connection there is between prenatal care and birth weight, gestational age and Apgar scores.
Identifier
SC 11.PAS.2004.Moe.A
Recommended Citation
Moe, Amy, "The Amount of Prenatal Care in Women Thirty-five Years and Older and It's Effects on Birth Weight, Gestational Age and Apgar Scores" (2004). Theses and Graduate Projects. 577.
https://idun.augsburg.edu/etd/577