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No First Trimester Care
No First Trimester Care is the percent of all births in which the mother did
not begin prenatal care during the first three months of the pregnancy. It
has been shown that early prenatal care is essential to the health and
well-being of newborn infants, particularly in reducing the rates of infant
death, low birth-weight, and other perinatal conditions.
No First Trimester Care is calculated by dividing the number of births not
receiving first trimester care by the total number of births minus the number
of births with unknown care. In 1996, there were 35,588 births in which
prenatal care was known. Of those, 8,984 were to mothers who did not begin
prenatal care in the first trimester. The percent No First Trimester Care =
(8,984 / 35,588) X 100 = 25.2 percent. In the United States in 1996, 18.2
percent of all births were to mothers who did not begin care in the first
trimester.
Health Management Area 9 contains five of the eleven counties with high
percentages of mothers receiving No First Trimester Care. Two additional
counties adjacent to the Area 9 cluster, Jefferson and Arkansas, also had high
percentages. During the period from 1992-1996, the average percent receiving
No First Trimester Care ranged from a low of 13.1 percent in Greene County to
a high of 44.3 percent in Phillips County.
The five-year averages for ADH Health Management Areas 5, 6, and 9 were higher
than the remainder of the Health Management Areas. Of these, Area 9 was the
highest with 33.9 percent. ADH Health Management Area 11 had the lowest
average percentage at 20.8 percent.
The percentage of Arkansas women not receiving first trimester prenatal care
began a steady decline in 1991 and declined significantly each year from 1993
through 1995. Calendar year 1996, however, showed a significant increase,
rising from 23.3 to 25.2.
Nationally, the percent of women not receiving prenatal care in the first
trimester of pregnancy remained stable at around 24 percent throughout the
late 1970's and '80's. The 1990's have shown an improvement in the use of
early prenatal care, however. The percent receiving No First Trimester Care
has dropped steadily from 24.5 percent in 1989 to 18.2 percent in 1996.
Receipt of prenatal care varies substantially by race. Arkansas' five-year
average for No First Trimester Care for White mothers was 21.1 percent. The
percentage for Black mothers was higher at 39.9 percent.
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