Prenatal care among rural to urban migrant women in China

Abstract

BackgroundThere is a very large population of internal migrants in China, and the majority of migrant women are of childbearing age. Little is known about their utilization of prenatal care and factors that influence this. We examined this using data from a large national survey of migrants.Methods5372 married rural to urban migrant women aged 20–34 who were included in the 2014 National Dynamic Monitoring Survey on Migrants and who delivered a baby within the previous two years were studied. We examined demographic and migration experience predictors of prenatal care in the first trimester and of adequate prenatal visits.Results12.6% of migrant women reported no examination in the first trimester and 27.6% had less than 5 prenatal visits during their latest pregnancy. Multivariate analysis indicated that demographic predictors of delayed and inadequate care included lower educational level, lower income and not having childbearing insurance. Migrating before pregnancy, longer time since migration, having migrated a greater distance, and not returning to their home town for delivery were correlated with better prenatal care.ConclusionsMany internal migrant women in China do not receive adequate prenatal care. While internal migration before pregnancy seems to promote adequate prenatal care, it also creates barriers to receiving care. Strategies to improve prenatal care utilization include expanding access to childbearing insurance and timely education for women before and after they migrate.

Effects of thyroid diseases on pregnancy outcomes

“…The age, weight and incidence of thyroid disorder were compared in the cohort 2010 and matched cohort 2014 groups (Table I). In past decades, an increasing proportion of women exhibit delayed childbearing for educational, social and economic reasons (26,27), which could explain the advanced maternal age observed in the 2014 matching cohort compared with the 2010 cohort. The mean weight of the patients was also significantly increased in matched cohort 2014, which is likely due to the association between age and weight (28,29).…”

Inequality in Health Services for Internal Migrants in China: A National Cross-Sectional Study on the Role of Fund Location of Social Health Insurance

“…The 2017 CMDS survey sample was drawn based on the 2016 China Migrant Population Information System. A multistage stratified probability proportional-to-size (PPS) cluster sampling strategy was adopted to select participants [ 8 , 59 ]. At the first stage, 3150 urban sub-districts and rural townships were selected using the PPS method from 1290 counties/districts of 351 prefectures in 32 provinces.…”

“…In this study, two indictors were calculated to measure use of health services in line with those used in previous studies [ 8 , 17 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ].…”

“…Meanwhile, public and social services such as job opportunities, housing allowance, educational opportunities, healthcare services, social insurance and other welfare entitlements were always linked to Hukou managed by local governments. Moving to a place without Hukou meant loss of all of the entitlements [ 1 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ].…”

“…Studies showed that about 10% internal migrants failed to enroll in a social health insurance program due to the complexity of the system, which has exposed them to a high financial risk [ 31 ]. The internal migrants without social health insurance usually have lower levels of use of both medical services and preventive care compared with their counterparts with social health insurance [ 8 , 17 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ]. Some internal migrants were covered by the BMIUE, which enabled them to enjoy a higher level of entitlements and use more healthcare services than those covered by the BMIUR and RNCMS [ 36 , 37 , 38 ].…”