Adequacy of Prenatal Care Summary
Adequacy of Prenatal Care is a measure of both access to and frequency of prenatal care based on
the Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilization (APNCU) Index developed by
Kotelchuck. This index considers two aspects of prenatal care: the month
it was initiated and the number of visits occurring after initiation.
The 1990 through 2004 Editions of the report defined Adequacy of
Prenatal Care using the Kessner Index, a measure highly correlated to
Kotelchuck; however, it does not consider both initiation and frequency
of visits.
Adequacy of prenatal
care is not adjusted for age or race.
Table 32 displays the 2007 ranks, based on 2004 data (National
Center for Health Statistics. Adequacy of Care by State, United States,
Hyattsville, Md.). Not all prenatal care numbers are comparable since
the data is collected from two different forms of birth certificates.
The states marked with asterisks have begun using the 2003 revision to
the birth certificate and can only be compared to other states with an
asterisk. All other states use the 1988 revision and are directly
comparable. The states using the 2003 revision were assigned scores and
ranks based upon prior year data to avoid a lowering of their scores due
to the improved data collection method.
Access to adequate
prenatal care ranges from more than 85 percent of pregnant women in
New Hampshire,
Maine and
Vermont to less than 60 percent in
New Mexico.
The data has not
changed since the 2006 Edition.
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