Pregnancy, Prenatal Care, and Delivery of Mothers with Disabilities in Korea

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the whole picture regarding pregnancy, prenatal care, obstetrical complications, and delivery among disabled pregnant women in Korea. Using the data of National Health Insurance Corporation, we extracted the data of women who terminated pregnancy including delivery and abortion from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. Pearson's chi-square test and Student-t test were conducted to examine the difference between disabled women and non-disabled women. Also, to define the factors affecting inadequate prenatal care, logistic regression was performed. The total number of pregnancy were 463,847; disabled women was 2,968 (0.6%) and 460,879 (99.4%) were by non-disabled women. Abortion rates (27.6%), Cesarean section rate (54.5%), and the rate of receiving inadequate prenatal care (17.0%), and the rate of being experienced at least one obstetrical complication (11.3%) among disabled women were higher than those among non-disabled women (P < 0.001). Beneficiaries of Medical Aid (OR, 2.21) (P < 0.001) and severe disabled women (OR, 1.46) (P = 0.002) were more likely to receive inadequate prenatal care. In conclusion, disabled women are more vulnerable in pregnancy, prenatal care and delivery. Therefore, the government and society should pay more attention to disabled pregnant women to ensure they have a safe pregnancy period up until the delivery.Graphical Abstract

The Life Expectancy Gap between Registered Disabled and Non-Disabled People in Korea from 2004 to 2017

“…People with a mental or physical impairment had a higher smoking rate than an age- and sex-matched random sample from the general population [19], although health-related behaviors varied across types of disabilities [20]. Pregnant women with disabilities were found to be more likely to receive inadequate prenatal care than non-disabled pregnant women [21]. Several Korean studies have suggested that people with disabilities are prone to experience poverty, deprivation of human rights, social isolation, and discrimination [22,23,24].…”

Experiences of midwifery students, about to give care for women with disability<p>Ebelik öğrencilerinin engelli kadınlara bakım verme deneyimleri

“…Engelli kadınların, engelli olmayan kadınlara göre yetersiz doğum öncesi bakım alma olasılığı 2 kat daha fazladır (Lim, 2015). Engelli kadınlar gebelik, doğum öncesi bakım ve doğumda daha hassastır.…”

“…Engelli kadınların erken doğum riski, sezaryen oranı ve abortus hızı yüksektir ve yenidoğan bebeklerin doğum kilosu ve apgar skorunun düşük olduğu görülmektedir (Lim et al, 2015). Ayrıca tüm bu sorunların yanında, engelli kadınların cinsel sağlık ve üreme sağlığı alanında yetersiz hizmetlerden dolayı sağlık hizmetlerine erişimde zorlandıkları belirtilmektedir (Patage et al, 2015;Gibson & Mykitiuk, 2012;Thomas & Curtis, 1997;Morrison et al, 2015).…”

Capacitação Em Imunopreveníveis Para Agentes Comunitários: Uma Intervenção Ativa Na Prevenção Primária À Saúde

“…Para Lim et al (2015), as mulheres que não planejam uma gravidez, a orientação profissional é de suma importância, no sentido de garantir uma vida sexual plena, sem riscos de uma gravidez indesejada. Quando se decide gestar, ou seja, realizar um planejamento familiar, é imprescindível.…”