Attendance to a health education program for pregnant women and outcomes of the newborn: health education of pregnant women and newborn

BACKGROUND: The aim of this paper was to assess the association between the attendance to a health education program for pregnant women and the outcome of the newborn (low birth weight [LBW], preterm delivery, small for gestational age [SGA]) and other conditions frequency in the first two months of life of newborn. METHODS: An observational study on primiparous women in four hospitals of southern Spain was conducted in 2011. Data on socio-demographic variables, obstetric parameters, and newborn characteristics were collected through interviews and clinical chart review. In the analysis, crude and adjusted (by logistic regression) odds ratios (aOR) were estimated. Means and their standard errors were computed for continuous variables, applying analysis of covariance in multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Five hundred and twenty primiparous women were recruited. Health education of pregnant women did not show any influence on newborns' Apgar Score. The frequency of LBW in mothers attending the program during the pregnancy was 2.82% versus 8.43% in those who did not attend it (aOR=0.27, 95% CI, 0.11 to 0.66). Health education during pregnancy was unrelated to the risk of SGA (aOR=0.84, 95% CI, 0.53 to 1.33). CONCLUSIONS: Health education during pregnancy was associated to a lower risk of LBW, but not was associated with other newborn outcomes.