Maternal health behaviors during pregnancy in rural Northwestern China
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Maternal health behaviors during pregnancy in rural Northwestern China Yue Ma1, Yujuan Gao1, Jason Li2, Andrew Sun1,3, Baozhu Wang4* , Jun Zhang5,6, Sarah-Eve Dill1, Alexis Medina1 and Scott Rozelle1
Abstract Background: Maternal health during pregnancy is a key input in fetal health and child development. This study aims to systematically describe the health behaviors of pregnant women in rural China and identify which subgroups of women are more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors during pregnancy. Methods: We surveyed 1088 pregnant women in rural northwestern China on exposure to unhealthy substances, nutritional behaviors, the timing and frequency of antenatal care, and demographic characteristics. Results: Pregnant women were active in seeking antenatal care and had low rates of alcohol consumption (5.1%), exposure to toxins (4.8%), and exposure to radiation (2.9%). However, tobacco exposure was widespread (40.3%), as was low dietary diversity (61.8%), unhealthy weight gain (59.7%), unhealthy pre-pregnancy BMI (29.7%), and no folic acid intake (17.1%). Maternal education is closely linked to better health behaviors, whereas experience with a previous pregnancy is not. Conclusions: Tobacco exposure and unhealthy nutritional behaviors are common among pregnant women in rural northwestern China. The findings indicate that in the absence of professional health information, relying on experience of previous pregnancies alone may not help rural women avoid unhealthy maternal behaviors. Maternal health education campaigns targeting nutrition and tobacco exposure during pregnancy may improve maternal, fetal, and child health in rural China. Keywords: Pregnant women, Health behaviors, Nutritional behaviors, Rural China
Background Development in utero is crucial to the realization of a child’s future developmental potential [1]. Environmental and social conditions during pregnancy have been shown to affect infant morbidity, health, and developmental outcomes [2], which in turn affect health over the life course, as well as future economic participation and human capital accumulation [3]. Because of the consequential nature of this growth period, societal investment in promoting healthy fetal development has * Correspondence: [email protected] 4 Northwest Women’s and Children’s Hospital, 1616 Yanxiang Road, Yanta District, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
important implications for enhancing social and economic wellbeing [4]. While healthy fetal development depends on a number of factors, such as genetics and gestational period [5, 6], behaviors of the mother before and during pregnancy— including such behaviors as smoking, alcohol consumption and dietary choices— are key inputs in fetal development [7–9]. Unhealthy maternal behaviors during pregnancy can be classified into three broad categories: exposure to unhealthy substances, unhealthy nutritional behaviors, and inadequate antenatal care. To date, the literatur
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