Reducing Antenatal Health Inequalities: Outcome Focused Evidence into Action Guidance

A SNAPSHOT OF INEQUALITIES IN MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH OUTCOMES

• Women aged less than 20 are at risk of higher rates of stillbirth (5.6 per 1000 total births), higher rated perinatal deaths (8.9 per 1000 total births) and higher rates of neonatal deaths (4.4 per 1000 live births) than women aged 20-34 http://www.cemach.org.uk/Publications-Press-Releases/Report-Publications/Maternal-Mortality.aspx
• Children born to women from more vulnerable groups experience a higher risk of morbidity and face problems with pre-term labour, intrauterine growth restriction, low birth weight and higher levels of neonatal complications. http://www.cemach.org.uk/Publications-Press-Releases/Report-Publications/Maternal-Mortality.aspx
• 81% of women who died of direct or indirect causes and who were in abusive relationships found it difficult to access or maintain contact with maternity services http://www.cemach.org.uk/Publications-Press-Releases/Report-Publications/Maternal-Mortality.aspx
• In over 50% of domestic abuse cases, children were also directly abused http://www.cemach.org.uk/Publications-Press-Releases/Report-Publications/Maternal-Mortality.aspx
• Socio-economic deprivation remains one of the factors associated with poor perinatal outcomes in Scotland: the perinatal mortality rate among the most deprived in 2007-2008 was 8.8/1000 births compared with 6.5/1000 births in the least deprived. A similar gradient was recorded for prematurity , low birth weight and small for gestational age babies ( ISD 2009 http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/1018.html
• Women from BME communities are 7 times more likely to die in childbirth than other groups http://www.cemach.org.uk/Publications-Press-Releases/Report-Publications/Maternal-Mortality.aspx
• 20% of women who died either first booked for antenatal care after 20 weeks gestation, missed over four routine antenatal appointments, or did not seek care at all http://www.cemach.org.uk/Publications-Press-Releases/Report-Publications/Maternal-Mortality.aspx
• High risk factors during pregnancy -substance misuse, domestic abuse, smoking as well as diet and maternal nutrition impact on a child's subsequent health and development outcomes (Early Years Framework Evidence Briefing http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Young-People/Early-years-framework/background/evidence