Factors Associated with Number of Prenatal Visits in Northeastern Brazil: A Cross-Sectional Study.

The aim of this study is to assess factors associated with the number of prenatal visits of women who delivered in a public maternity hospital in northeastern Brazil. This cross-sectional study focused on 380 puerperal women who gave birth at a public maternity hospital in northeastern Brazil. Prenatal and perinatal data were collected in the immediate postpartum period by interviewing mothers and using medical records. Chi-square/Fisher exact test compared the data, and a logistic regression model estimated the association between birth weight and number of prenatal visits. As a result, the sample was composed of 175 women with <37 weeks of gestational age and 205 women with ≥37 weeks of gestational age. Women with less than four prenatal visits were more likely to give birth to low birth weight (<2500 g) and preterm infants (<37 weeks of gestational age) than those with more than four prenatal visits (p = 0.001). The subjects with less than four prenatal visits had a 2.76-fold higher odds of giving birth to infants weighing less than 2500 g (p = 0.03; 95%CI = 1.05-7.30), without relation to maternal and gestational ages. In conclusion, women with less than four prenatal visits had higher odds of giving birth to low birth infants, independently of maternal and gestational ages, and were more likely to give birth to premature babies.

Chest circumference in full-term newborns: how can it be predicted?

BACKGROUND: Although over the years a number of studies have used chest circumference (CC) as a sensitive tool to identify the health status of infants, a particularly important aspect for this population is the lack of data on normal values and prediction equations. In order to facilitate and validate the interpretation of CC data in newborn (NB), the aim was to study the relation between CC and other anthropometric variables and develop a predictive equation for CC in a population of full-term newborns. METHODS: Cross-sectional study, carried out with full-term infants. The anthropometric (CC, head circumference - HC, length, age and weight) and hemodynamic variables were evaluated during the first 24 h of life. Bivariate analysis was performed between CC and HC, weight, length and type of delivery, followed by multiple linear regression analysis, including variables that were significant in the bivariate analysis. For data analysis, we used the SPSS program, considering p < 0.05 and 95% CI. RESULTS: The birth weight of the 120 NB varied between 2580 and 4225 g (mean 3360 g) and the gestational age between 37 and 42 weeks (mean 39 weeks). Approximately 61% of the sample were delivered vaginally and 67 (56%) were boys. The variables that remained statistically associated with CC after multivariate analysis were weight (ß 0.003, CI: 0.002: 0.003, p = 0.001) and HC (ß 0.287, CI: 0.156: 0.417, p = 0.001). For the linear regression model, the predictive equation of CC was 14.87+ (0.003 x weight) + (0.287 x HC), with a prediction of 76%. CONCLUSION: The results show a positive correlation between CC and weight, length and HC, and based on the linear regression model, the predictive equation for CC is based only on weight and HC.