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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 Birthweight, 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 1998, there were 35,926 births in which month
prenatal care began was known. Of those, 7,944 were to mothers who did not begin
prenatal care in the first trimester. The percent No First Trimester Care
= (7,944 / 35,926) X 100 = 22.1 percent. Nationally, 17.2 percent of all births
in 1998 were to mothers who did not begin care in the first trimester.
Health Management Area 6 (Jefferson, Ouachita, & Clark counties) had the highest
average percentages of mothers receiving No First Trimester Care at 31.0
percent, followed by Area 9 (Phillips, Lee, St. Francis, & Monroe counties) at
29.4 percent. The lowest percentage of women receiving No First Trimester Care
was found in Area 11 (Randolf, Clay, Lawrence, Greene, & Jackson counties) at
18.9 percent. In 1998, the average percent receiving No First Trimester Care
ranged from a low of 12.5 percent in Greene County to a high of 41.9 percent
in Phillips County.
The percentage of Arkansas women receiving No First Trimester Care began a
steady decline in 1991 and declined significantly each year from 1993 through
1995. A significant increase occurred in 1996, rising from 23.3 percent to
25.2 percent. The significant downward trend began again, however, in 1996,
dropping to 24.4 percent in 1997, and again dropping to 22.1 percent in 1998.
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 17.5 percent in 1998.
Receipt of prenatal care varies substantially by race. Arkansas' five-year
average for No First Trimester Care for White mothers was 20.1 percent. The
percentage for Black mothers was higher at 37.0 percent.
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