Pregnant people who receive no prenatal care, or whose care begins only in the last trimester of pregnancy, are more likely to have infants with health problems. Pregnant people who do not receive prenatal care are three times more likely to give birth to a low-weight baby, and their baby is five times more likely to die. In addition to receiving care early, frequency and timing of prenatal care are also important, especially for effective responses to specific maternal risk factors.
Data for the State of Babies Yearbook: 2023 were calculated using data from CDC Wonder. The numerator is the number of births with prenatal care that began during the third trimester of pregnancy or an absence of prenatal care. The denominator is the total number of births for whom timing of prenatal care is known. The total/national average is out of presented states, rather than all states. This indicator can be disaggregated by race/ethnicity and urbanicity. Race/ethnicity: The included subgroups are non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native, non-Hispanic Asian, non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic more than one race, non-Hispanic native Hawaiian or other Pacific islander, non-Hispanic White, and Hispanic of all races. The pregnant person’s race was used for the subgroup calculations. Births where the origin of the mother was unknown were included with non-Hispanic births in the CDC Wonder data. Urbanicity: CDC Wonder classifies each person as living in a metro or nonmetro area according to 2013 designations. The Metro group includes counties in these Urbanization categories: Large Central Metro, Large Fringe Metro, Medium Metro, and Small Metro. The Nonmetro group includes counties in these Urbanization categories: Micropolitan (non-metro) and noncore (non-metro). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. (2019). Prenatal care. https://www.womenshealth.gov/a-z-topics/prenatal-care; Alexander, G.R., & Kotelchuck, M. (2001). Assessing the role and effectiveness of prenatal care: History, challenges, and directions for future research. Public Health Reports, 116(4), 306. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1497343/pdf/12037259.pdf
Source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. (2022). About Natality, 2016-2021 expanded. http://wonder.cdc.gov/natality-expanded-current.html