Abstract
Objective
Many of the medical risk factors for adverse birth outcomes (e.g., preeclampsia) are regularly monitored in prenatal care. However, many of the psychosocial risk factors associated with adverse birth outcomes (e.g., maternal stress, anxiety, depression, intimate partner violence) are not regularly addressed during routine prenatal care. Comprehensive prenatal screening for psychosocial risk factors for adverse birth outcomes can improve maternal and neonatal outcomes. In this study, we examine an existing tool for opportunities to streamline and improve screening.
Methods
We reviewed medical records for 528 mother-infant dyads, recording maternal responses to a 21-item prenatal risk screening tool, and gestational age/birth weight of infants. Multiple approaches to scoring were used to predict likelihood of adverse birth outcome.
Results
Women who answered yes to any of the top four interrelated items were 3.32 times more likely to have an adverse birth outcome. Sensitivity and specificity were 68% and 65%, respectively.
Conclusion for Practice
We identified a short surveillance tool to identify women who are at highest risk and require more in-depth screening, and to rule out women who are at very low risk of an adverse birth outcome.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank our team of data collectors: Dr. Mickey Emmanuel, Dr. Daniel Castro & Dr. Bedirhan Tarhan.
Funding
No funding was required to initiate or complete this study. Research reported in this publication relied on REDCap services provided by the University of Florida Clinical and Translational Science Institute, which is supported in part by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences under award Number UL1TR001427. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
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At the time of this study, Dr. Bright was affiliated with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Florida. At the time of publication, her affiliation is with the Center for Violence Prevention Research.
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Bright, M.A., Parrott, M., Martin, S. et al. Streamlining Universal Prenatal Screening for Risk for Adverse Birth Outcomes. Matern Child Health J 26, 1022–1029 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-022-03420-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-022-03420-7