The effectiveness of prenatal care programs on reducing preterm birth in socioeconomically disadvantaged women: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Preterm Birth (PTB) is one of the leading causes of infant morbidity and mortality. Prenatal care is an effective way to improve pregnancy outcomes but there is limited evidence of effective interventions to improve perinatal outcomes in disadvantaged pregnant women. This review was conducted with the aim to assess the effectiveness of prenatal care programs in reducing PTB in socioeconomically disadvantaged women. Materials and Methods: We searched the Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases from January 1, 1990 to August 31, 2021. The inclusion criteria included clinical trials and cohort studies focusing on prenatal care in deprived women with the primary outcome of PTB (< 37 weeks). Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Heterogeneity was evaluated using the Q test and I2 statistics. The pooled odds ratio was calculated using random-effects models. Results: In total, 14 articles covering 22,526 women were included in the meta-analysis. Interventions/exposures included group prenatal care, home visits, psychosomatic programs, integrated intervention on socio-behavioral risk factors, and behavioral intervention through education, social support, joint management, and multidisciplinary care. The pooled results showed that all types of interventions/exposure were associated with a reduction in the risk of PTB [OR = 0.86; 95% confidence interval: (0.64, 1.16); I-2 = 79.42%]. Conclusions: Alternative models of prenatal care reduce PTB in socioeconomically disadvantaged women compared with standard care. The limited number of studies may affect the power of this study.