Frequency of prenatal care visits by ethnic minority mothers and association with infant birthweight in Bac Kan province, Vietnam

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the association between prenatal care visits and infant birthweight among ethnic minority mothers in the mountainous Bac Kan province. This was done by comparing the frequency and timing of first prenatal care visit of 32 mothers with low birthweight (LBW) infants and 32 mothers with normal birthweight (NBW) infants. During pregnancy, mothers of NBW infants underwent 3.4 +/- 1 (mean) prenatal care visits and mothers of LBW infants 2.8 +/- 0.9 (P= 0.02). Mothers of NBW infants underwent their first prenatal care visit at 13.1 +/- 53 weeks of gestation, one week earlier than mothers of LBW infants. The frequency of prenatal care visit are probably associated with a decreased risk of LBW among ethnic minority mothers in Bac Kan province.