Introduction:

in Uruguay, the number of unintended pregnancies has been around 40% for several years. This is rather a high percentage if compared to other countries who also have low fertility rates and evidences difficulties in access to modern contraceptive methods or using them effectively. Likewise, several studies evidence unintended pregnancies are related to insufficient antenatal care services and worse outcome in the new-borns when compared to births resulting from intentional pregnancies.

Objective:

to study the relationship between pregnancy intentionality and antenatal care services in Uruguay, based on an analysis of its impact on the early engagement of pregnancies and non-healthy practices during pregnancy (smoking and alcohol consumption).

Method:

unintended and untimely births (not sought at that time) were included in the study as two treatment groups, and they are compared to the group of intentional births.

The net effect of pregnancy intention on health practices during pregnancy was examined using the de Propensity Score Matching (PSM) techniques. We used data delivered by the Nutrition, Child Development and Health Survey, a panel study that has been collecting information from mothers of children between 0 and 3 years old who live in urban localities of Uruguay (with over 5,000 inhabitants) since 2013.

Results:

Prior to the PSM matching, the differences in early engagement and smoking were significant between pregnancy intention groups, whereas alcohol consumption was not associated to significant differences between pregnancy intention groups.

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