Objective:

To describe the prevalence of late initiation of prenatal care and assess its association with the socioeconomic level of the pregnant woman.

Materials and methods:

Cross-sectional study. Pregnant women from the urban area of Bucaramanga were included using sampling based on proportional affixation quotas according to the socioeconomic classification of the neighbourhood where they lived. Late initiation was considered to occur when prenatal care was started at 12 weeks or more of gestation. The association between late initiation and socioeconomic bracket was assessed, controlling by sociodemographic and clinical variables of the pregnant woman, and a multivariate log-binomial regression model was developed to estimate prevalence ratios and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).

Results:

Overall, 391 pregnant women between 18 and 43 years of age (median 23) were included. Median for schooling was 11 years, with a range between 0 and 25 years. Late initiation was found in 29.7% (95% CI: 25.2-34.5) of the women. Association was found with low income brackets (prevalence ratio [PR] = 1.57; 95% CI: 1.082.56), no affiliation to social security at the start of pregnancy (PR = 2.73; 95% CI: 2.04-3.67), and low schooling (PR = 1.46; 95% CI: 1.02-2.16), and age between 18 and 24 years (PR = 1.53; 95% CI: 1.12-1.70). Remembering the date of the last menstruation (PR = 0.48; 95% CI: 0.32-0.71) and being in a stable relationship (PR = 0.82; 95% CI: 0.64-0.98) were protective factors.

Conclusions:

Late initiation of prenatal care is found to occur in approximately one out of every three pregnant women. Late initiation is associated with living in a low socioeconomic bracket. Early identification of pregnant women in this population affected by health inequity must be improved.

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