News Release

Participation in group prenatal care may improve birth outcomes

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

Journal of Women's Health

image: Journal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. view more 

Credit: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers

New Rochelle, NY, October 22, 2018--A recent retrospective matched cohort study of more than 9,000 pregnant women found that women who received group prenatal care had a significantly lower risk of having a preterm birth or a low birth weight baby compared with women who received individual care only, after adjusting for number of individual care visits. Women who attended five or more group prenatal care sessions experienced even greater reductions in risk for preterm birth and low birth weight, as reported in an article published in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. Click here to read the full-text article free on the Journal of Women's Health website until November 22, 2018.

Shayna D. Cunningham, PhD, and colleagues from Yale School of Public Health (New Haven, CT) and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville, TN) coauthored the article entitled, "Group Prenatal Care Reduces Risk of Preterm Birth and Low Birth Weight: A Matched Cohort Study." The researchers compared pregnant women with a live singleton birth who received group prenatal care to a matched sample of women who received individual care only at Vanderbilt University Medical Center from January 2009 through June 2016. For each woman, only the first birth that occurred during the study period was included.

"The findings of this study demonstrate the potential positive impact of group prenatal care attendance on birth outcomes and the importance of patient adherence," states Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health and Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA. "As noted by the authors, efforts are needed to promote and support widespread adoption of group prenatal care by health systems as well as among patients and providers."

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About the Journal

Journal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. Led by Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health, the Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women's healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women's Health website. Journal of Women's Health is the official journal of the Academy of Women's Health and the Society for Women's Health Research.

About the Academy

Academy of Women's Health is an interdisciplinary, international association of physicians, nurses, and other health professionals who work across the broad field of women's health, providing its members with up-to-date advances and options in clinical care that will enable the best outcomes for their women patients. The Academy's focus includes the dissemination of translational research and evidence-based practices for disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of women across the lifespan.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including LGBT Health, Transgender Health, Population Health Management, and Breastfeeding Medicine. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.


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