Page 23 - IJPS-10-3

International Journal of

Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Assessment of prenatal care adequacy using

different normative criteria in a municipality in
Santa Catarina, Brazil

2
1
Vanessa Martins Rosa , Roxana Knobel , Eliane Silva de Azevedo Traebert , and
1
Betine Pinto Moehlecke Iser *
3
1 Posgraduate Program in Health Sciences, University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL),
Palhoça, Santa Catarina, Brazil
2 Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC),
Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil
3 Posgraduate Program in Health Sciences, University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL),
Tubarão, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract
The current study aimed to evaluate the quality of prenatal care and identify
associated factors among women admitted for delivery at a public maternity hospital
in greater Florianópolis, Santa Catarina. This cross-sectional study included women
who had received prenatal care through the Government Unified Health System
in the city of São José and had been subsequently admitted to the hospital for
delivery from November 2021 to April 2022. Data were obtained from the pregnant
*Corresponding author: women’s booklet, their health records, and a specific questionnaire. The evaluation
Betine Pinto Moehlecke Iser criteria included the Takeda-modified Kessner index, adapted adequacy of prenatal
(betine.iser@ulife.com.br) care utilization index, and Anversa classification. Adequacy was assessed based on
Citation: Rosa, V.M., Knobel, pregnancy parameters and the patients’ characteristics. Among the 237 pregnant
R., de Azevedo Traebert, E.S., & women in the sample, prenatal care adequacy ranged from 48.5 to 83.1% and was
Iser, B.P.M. (2024). Assessment
of prenatal care adequacy using associated with older age, education, referral to high-risk prenatal care (HRPN) (20
different normative criteria in a – 30% higher prevalence of adequacy), and pregnancy planning. Notably, there
municipality in Santa Catarina, was a tendency toward a reduction in the number of examinations (laboratory and
Brazil. International Journal of
Population Studies, 10(3): 17-33. physical) during pregnancy. The adequacy rate decreased with the application of
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.1422 stricter normative criteria and in advanced pregnancy stages. In conclusion, prenatal
Received: July 31, 2023 care quality was predominantly adequate, although it varied across indices and was
associated with age, education, HRPN, and pregnancy planning.
Accepted: December 4, 2023
Published Online: April 25, 2024
Keywords: Prenatal care; Quality of health care; Primary health care
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution, 1. Introduction
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is Prenatal care is the assistance offered to pregnant women with the aim of ensuring
properly cited. maternal and fetal well-being, ultimately reducing the associated morbidity and mortality
Publisher’s Note: AccScience (Camargo et al., 2021; OPAS, 2018). Maternal mortality serves as an indicator of women’s
Publishing remains neutral with health and overall quality of life within a population. According to the World Health
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional Organization (WHO), reducing maternal mortality rates requires ensuring quality health
affiliations care for pregnant women and enhancing the collection of prenatal data (OPAS, 2018).

Volume 10 Issue 3 (2024) 17 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.1422