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Table 1 Frequencies and proportions of maternal characteristics by antenatal model of care, British Columbia, April 1, 2008-December 31, 2012 (n = 33,937)

From: Improving birth outcomes for women who are substance using or have mental illness: a Canadian cohort study comparing antenatal midwifery and physician models of care for women of low socioeconomic position

Maternal Characteristics

Antenatal Model of Care

MW n = 3397 n(%)

GP n = 25,784 n(%)

OB n = 4756 n(%)

Age (yrs.)

 14–19

117 (3.44)

2587 (10.03)

208 (4.37)

 20–24

644 (18.96)

8366 (32.45)

841 (17.68)

 25–29

1161 (34.18)

7716 (29.93)

1371 (28.83)

 30–34

987 (29.06)

4559 (17.68)

1247 (26.22)

 35–39

415 (12.22)

2113 (8.20)

808 (16.99)

  > 40

73 (2.15)

443 (1.72)

281 (5.91)

Paritya

 Nullipara

1607 (47.31)

13,148 (50.99)

2134 (44.87)

 Multipara

1790 (52.69)

12,636 (49.01)

2621 (55.11)

Medical riskb,c

11 (0.32)

263 (1.02)

90 (1.89)

Prior obstetric riskb,d

87 (2.56)

999 (3.87)

280 (5.89)

Mental illnessb,e

1012 (29.79)

4922 (19.09)

545 (11.46)

Receiving social assistanceb

239 (7.04)

3623 (14.05)

535 (11.25)

Pre-pregnancy Body Mass Indexf

 Underweight

156 (4.59)

1281 (4.97)

277 (5.82)

 Normal

1854 (54.58)

9616 (37.29)

1652 (34.74)

 Overweight

511 (15.04)

3554 (13.78)

528 (11.10)

 Obese

243 (7.15)

2340 (9.08)

327 (6.88)

 Unknown

633 (18.63)

8993 (34.88)

1972 (41.46)

Smoking status

 Never

915 (26.94)

5189 (20.12)

1325 (27.86)

 Former

548 (16.13)

3456 (13.40)

299 (6.29)

 Current

336 (9.89)

5540 (21.49)

459 (9.65)

 Unknown

1598 (47.04)

11,599 (44.99)

2673 (56.20)

Substance use in pregnancyb,g

153 (4.50)

2281 (8.85)

182 (3.83)

Alcohol identified as a riskb

47 (1.38)

753 (2.92)

31 (0.65)

Antepartum morbidityb,h

243 (7.15)

3863 (14.98)

1189 (25.00)

Delivery year

 2008 (as of April 1)

419 (12.33)

4495 (17.43)

711 (14.95)

 2009

606 (17.84)

5640 (21.87)

910 (19.13)

 2010

694 (20.43)

5371 (20.83)

1000 (21.03)

 2011

796 (23.43)

5337 (20.70)

1014 (21.32)

 2012

882 (25.96)

4941 (19.16)

1121 (23.57)

Neighbourhood SEPi

 High

450 (13.25)

2846 (11.04)

377 (7.93)

 Low/Medium

2947 (86.75)

22,938 (88.96)

4379 (92.07)

LHA Socioeconomic Rankj

 High (Best)

1858 (54.70)

7314 (28.37)

2327 (48.93)

 Medium

1118 (32.91)

12,774 (49.54)

1897 (39.89)

 Low

412 (12.13)

5641 (21.88)

487 (10.24)

 Unknown

9 (0.26)

55 (0.21)

45 (0.95)

LHA Income Inequality Rankk

 High (Worst)

1188 (34.97)

5776 (22.40)

2419 (50.86)

 Medium

1717 (50.54)

14,829 (57.51)

1999 (42.03)

 Low

483 (14.22)

5133 (19.91)

318 (6.69)

 Unknown

9 (0.26)

46 (0.18)

20 (0.42)

Northern residenceb,l

92 (2.71)

3426 (13.29)

205 (4.31)

  1. Abbreviations: GP general practitioner, MW midwife, OB obstetrician, SEP socioeconomic position
  2. aMissing cases amount to 5 or less
  3. bValues represent cases classified as “Yes”, the remainder of the cases were classified as “No”, “Unknown”, or were undocumented
  4. cIncluded maternal disease of the respiratory or digestive system, and endocrine, nutritional, or metabolic disease
  5. dIncluded women with at least one of the following conditions in past pregnancy: infant with major congenital anomaly, neonatal death, stillbirth, or one preterm delivery
  6. eIncluded any of the following diagnoses prior to, or during the current pregnancy: anxiety disorder, depression, postpartum depression, bipolar disorder, other/unknown (including schizophrenic, mood, and psychotic disorders)
  7. fClassified according to Health Canada’s guidelines [34]
  8. gHeroin/opioids, cocaine, methadone, solvents, marijuana, or other/unknown drugs used at any time during pregnancy, prescription or other drug use identified as a risk at any time during pregnancy
  9. hIncluded pregnancy induced hypertension, gestational diabetes (whether or not insulin dependent), anemia, intrauterine growth restriction, viral disease, infection and parasitic disease, placenta previa without hemorrhage, polyhydramnios or oligohydramnios, antepartum hemorrhage > 20 weeks, sexually transmitted infection or HIV, or premature separation of the placenta
  10. iNeighbourhood income quintiles were classified as low/medium (quintiles 1–4) versus high (quintile 5) [12]
  11. jCalculated by the province of BC’s Statistics Division (BC Stats), based on a range of social determinants of health reflecting area-level economic and social processes, and policy decisions [14]
  12. kCalculated by BC Stats [14]
  13. lAt the time of delivery, normal residence in BC’s Northern Health Authority
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BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth

ISSN: 1471-2393

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