Prenatal Care in the First Trimester
Summary Indicator Report Data View Options
Why Is This Important?
Prenatal care is the health care a woman gets while she is pregnant. Health care providers recommend that women begin prenatal care in the first trimester of their pregnancy. Regular, recommended prenatal care reduces the risk of pregnancy-related complications for the mother and infant and increases a woman's chances of having healthy baby at full term.
Definition
The percentage of live births in the reporting period for which prenatal care was received in the first trimester.
Data Sources
- Birth Certificate Data, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics (BVRHS), Epidemiology and Response Division, New Mexico Department of Health.
(https://www.nmhealth.org/about/erd/bvrhs/vrp/) - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC WONDER Online Database
(http://wonder.cdc.gov) - U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
(http://data.census.gov)
How the Measure is Calculated
Numerator: | Number of live births in the reporting period for which prenatal care was received in the first trimester. |
Denominator: | Total number of live births in the reporting period. (Births where prenatal care was unreported were counted in the denominator.) |
What Is Being Done?
NM is one of six states participating in the Collaborative Innovations Networks (COIIN). This was a national effort focusing on Safe Sleep, Smoking Cessation, Interconception Care, Perinatal Regionalization, and reducing non-medically indicated C-sections and inductions before 39 weeks. NM was selected as one of four states to participate in the National Governor's Association Initiative to improve birth outcomes in 2013. This initiative involves key leadership from the Governor's Office, Department of Health, University of NM, NM Primary Care Association, NM Hospital Association, March of Dimes, Managed Care Organizations, CYFD, members of the provider community and other key stakeholders working together to align efforts toward improving birth outcomes.
Available Services
Text4Baby is a service available to expecting and postpartum mothers to remind them of recommended prenatal care and advice. It does not replace clinical visits for prenatal care but complements those visits. [https://text4baby.org/index.php/health-info-for-moms] The BrdsNBz Text Message Warm Line provides confidential, factually accurate answers to sexual health questions via text message. A young person simply texts a question, and a trained health educator responds within 24 hours. BrdsNBz serves young people ages 13 to 19 and parents who live in New Mexico. To ask a question, text NMTeen to 66746 and a trained Health Educator will respond within 24 hours- usually much quicker.
More Resources
Doctors, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynegologists (ACOG) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) all recommend that mothers-to-be see their health care provider as soon as they are aware of their pregnancy, at least before the 13th week of pregnancy and to go back for at least 13 visits (for a normal, low-risk pregnancy) before birth. Going to a health care provider early and often will promote a healthy pregnancy and baby. M Kotelchuck. An evaluation of the Adequacy of Prenatal Care Index and a proposed Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilization Index. Am J Public Health 1994; 84:1414-20. http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/prenatal-care.cfm#f