Why Is This Important?

Women who receive early and consistent prenatal care increase their likelihood of giving birth to a healthy child. Health care providers recommend that women begin prenatal care in the first trimester of their pregnancy.

Definition

Number of live births to pregnant women who did not receive prenatal care at any time during this pregnancy as a percentage of the total number of live births.

Data Sources

• Birth Certificate Database, Office of Vital Statistics and Registry, New Jersey Department of Health
  (https://www.nj.gov/health/vital/)
• Natality public-use data, CDC WONDER On-line Database, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  (https://wonder.cdc.gov/natality.html)

How the Measure is Calculated

How Are We Doing?

The proportion of live births with no prenatal care (PNC) is significantly higher among infants of Black mothers, unmarried mothers, mothers who use tobacco during pregnancy, and mothers who are on Medicaid.

How Do We Compare With the U.S.?

New Jersey's no prenatal care rate (1.7%) was below that of the nation as a whole (2.1%) in 2022.

What Is Being Done?

The [http://www.nj.gov/health/fhs/ Division of Family Health Services] in the New Jersey Department of Health administers programs to enhance the health, safety and well-being of families and communities in New Jersey. Several programs are aimed at improving birth outcomes.

Available Services

[http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/dmahs/clients/medicaid/pregnant/ NJ FamilyCare][[br]] [http://www.njparentlink.nj.gov/njparentlink/health/before/ NJ Parent Link][[br]] [http://www.state.nj.us/health/fhs/primarycare/fqhc/ Federally Qualified Health Centers] (FQHCs)

More Resources

CDC: [https://www.cdc.gov/pregnancy/during/index.html During Pregnancy]

Health Program Information

The electronic birth registration system has a field for Total Number of Prenatal Care Visits. If zero is entered, the record is automatically coded as receiving no prenatal care. Beginning in 2021, if that field is left blank, zero is assumed and the record is auto-coded to no prenatal care. Previously, blanks were coded as unknown prenatal care. This may be the reason for the slight increase in the number of births with no prenatal care in 2021.