03 Patterns of antenatal care.pmd

1Department of Health Behaviour and Education; 2Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon. 3Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom. Received: 26/03/02; accepted: 16/03/03 ABSTRACT We studied patterns of antenatal care in lowversus high-risk pregnancies in Lebanon comparing 538 women after delivery in urban Beirut with rural Baka’a. Most women had 9 antenatal care visits with an obstetrician, starting in the first trimester. Care for high-risk and low-risk pregnancies was similar in terms of type of provider, number of visits and timing of first visit. More high-risk women had advice about special diets, supplements and laboratory tests. Maternal and fetal outcomes showed that, controlling for area and pregnancy risk, more antenatal visits were associated with fewer preterm deliveries, more caesarean sections and fewer cases of postpartum depression. Overall, differences between risk groups were small.