Social conditions and health of pregnant Jamaican women

ABSTRACT

This study analysed data from a national sample of 10,428 mothers who had births occuring in Jamaica in September and October 1986 in order to identify which socio-economic and environmental features best predicted health problems of the mother and the baby. The four categories of problems arising during pregnancy (bleeding, vaginal infection/discharge, 'other problems', antenatal hospital admission) showed the reverse pattern to the one expected mothers who were more highly educated and lived in better sanitary conditions tended to be those reporting more problems. Features of the mothers which could not be due to a perception bias (short stature and low haemoglobin levels) were more clearly associated with socio-economic deprivation. In addition, the clear-cut adverse outcomes of pregnancy - pre-term delivery and growth retardation - showed strong consistent associations with the conjugal union status of the mother, her usual employment status, the household expenditure on food and a newly derived social status classification based on the occupation warrants testing in other situations in Jamaica.