Subsequent appointments consist of various tests ranging from blood pressure to glucose levels to check on the health of the mother and fetus.
Prenatal care in the United States started as a preventive measure against preeclampsia, which included program visits during which medical professionals conducted physical, history, and risk evaluations.
Over the last century, prenatal care has shifted focus to low birth weight and other preventive conditions in order to decrease the rate of infant mortality.
Increased use of prenatal care was found to decrease the rates of birth-weight-related mortality and other preventable medical ailments such as post-partum depression and infant injuries.
[5] Medical professionals also inform the mother on the birthing process and basic skills for taking care of a new born.
Regular check-ups allow physicians to assess changes to the mothers' blood pressure, weight, uterus size, protein supplies from urine samples, and various diseases such as diabetes through screen tests.
On the other hand, it has been suggested that 8 to 11 visits in total can be sufficient for women considered at low risk of adverse perinatal outcomes.
Browner and Press found no significant differences between various demographics in women's attitude toward their personal prenatal care practices.
[4] Social networks of family, friends, and surrounding persons play a significant role in influencing an individual's utilization of prenatal services.
Social network share opinions, reach a consensus, and act to communicate and reinforce their suggestions and expectations; all of which are valued higher than that of health care professionals.
Many women who are distrustful of biomedicine will decline certain prenatal tests, citing their own bodily knowledge as more trustworthy than their doctor's high-tech interpretations.
[19] Having already borne healthy children increases the probability that mothers will not follow clinical recommendations, attributing positive prenatal situations to their past experiences.
Personal health could be self-defined with the recognition of their own symptoms and determining if they need to seek treatment of medical professionals.
[17] Some mothers are quite uncomfortable with this lack of clearly communicated information and are consequently hesitant to pursue prenatal testing and counseling that health professionals would consider to recommend.
[2][3][16] Analysis of trends depicting the use of prenatal care services constantly show the problem of underutilization, especially in disadvantaged populations within the United States.
[3][22] Studies have shown a significantly higher risk for blacks and Hispanics in receiving inadequate prenatal care.
A particularly consistent finding regarding the health of the Latino population is that Latina women, despite their many social and economic disadvantages (e.g., lower socioeconomic status, lower levels of education, less use of prenatal care, less access to health insurance), give birth to significantly fewer low birth weight infants and lose fewer babies to any and all causes during infancy in comparison to non-Hispanic white women.
[26] This cultural advantage begins to fade when Latina women acculturate into mainstream American culture; thus, more acculturated Latina women experience a higher infant mortality rate and give birth to more low-birth weight infants.
[36] Of those women who become pregnant every year in the United States 13 percent are uninsured, resulting in severely limited access to prenatal care.
"[37] Currently, pregnancy is considered a "pre-existing condition," making it much harder for uninsured pregnant women to actually be able to afford private health insurance.
[38] In 1990, 1995, and 1998, the expansion of MediCal increased the use of prenatal care and reduced ethnic differences in those who utilized health services.
[2] Women with fewer than 12 years of education are at high risk of underutilizing or lacking access to adequate prenatal care services.
[3] Oftentimes, Black and Hispanic pregnant women have fewer years of formal education, which sparks a domino effect of consequences related to prenatal care.
A lack of formal education results in less knowledge about pregnancy appropriate prenatal healthcare as a whole, fewer job opportunities, and a lower level of income throughout their adult life.
[1] Sesia et al. found a positive association with the number of prenatal care visits and birth weight.
[49] It has been suggested that physicians and other health care providers screen their patients for both abuse and sexually transmitted diseases to ensure their overall well being.
[3] A study done on women utilizing prenatal care services found that resources provided by an HMO program, such as prenatal education classes, recommendations for diet, exercise, weight gain, and rest, pregnancy books, and magazines subscriptions, were not viewed by women as being helpful.
The community health workers could even continue their relationship throughout the duration of the pregnancy, serving as a patient liaison during the various tests, appointments, and conversations.
[16] Those with outreach contact were more likely to serve disadvantaged populations such as those reported with obstetric risks, younger than 19 years old, and less likely to have a significant partner.
In relation to teenagers or adolescent medicine, a focused community program may lead to an increase in contraceptive use and a decrease in the rate of subsequent pregnancies.