Contributed article
PHOENIX — A new study from ValuePenguin found that Arizona had the sixth-highest rate of underage births without prenatal care at 5.9 percent.
In the analysis, using the CDC’s birth outcome data, New Jersey ranked seventh-highest (5.2 percent), followed by Florida (5.1 percent).
At the national level, researchers found that among babies born to girls 17 and younger, 4.2 percent didn’t receive prenatal care, compared with 1.7 percent of babies born to adult women.
Just over half (51.5 percent) of babies born to pregnant minors received prenatal care during the first trimester, compared to over three-quarters (75.8 percent) of babies born to pregnant adults.
West Virginia, Idaho and Kentucky had the highest first trimester prenatal care rates for underage births at 64.7 percent, 63.8 percent and 62.2 percent, respectively. They’re also the three states with the smallest gap between the rates of births by adults and minors that received prenatal care in the first trimester.
Underage mothers were more likely to receive government support. Overall, 79.2 percent of births to minors were covered by Medicaid, compared with 41.7 percent of births to adults. Additionally, 71.6 percent of minors were Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) participants, compared with 35.2 percent of adults.
Pregnancies for minors were more likely to result in medical complications. Nationally, minors were 8.6 percent more likely to deliver a preterm baby and 28.6 percent more likely to suffer an injury such as a perineal laceration or a ruptured uterus.
Additionally, babies born to pregnant minors had worse outcomes in almost every category analyzed. Babies born to pregnant minors were 26.9 percent more likely to have a low birth weight, 41.6 percent more likely to have a five-minute Apgar below 7 and 7.3 percent more likely to require immediate intervention such as ventilation or antibiotics.
You can read the report at Pregnant Minors 2.5 Times Less Likely to Receive Prenatal Care Than Pregnant Adults
