Impact of prenatal care with reduced frequency of visits in a residency teaching program.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if decreasing the number of prenatal visits for routine obstetric patients affects pregnancy outcome. STUDY DESIGN: A historical control study was designed to include 734 deliveries from January 1 to December 31, 1991, in women who had prenatal care per American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee Opinion no. 79, January 1990, guidelines for uncomplicated obstetric care. A prospective study cohort of women with 711 deliveries from January 1 to December 31, 1994, underwent prenatal care with modified guidelines to include: first visit at 6-12 weeks to confirm dating and obtain initial laboratory data, second visit at 16-20 weeks to obtain maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein screening, third visit at 24-28 weeks for 28-week laboratory data, fourth visit at 32 weeks, fifth visit at 36 weeks, sixth visit at 38 weeks, seventh visit at 40 weeks and weekly thereafter. Pregnancy outcomes included estimated fetal weight, gestational age at delivery, preeclampsia, Apgar score at one and five minutes and delivery mode. Neonatal outcomes, including stillbirth rate, preterm delivery rate, intraventricular hemorrhage rate, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and neonatal mortality, were evaluated. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in perinatal or neonatal outcomes with decreased prenatal visits from an average of 12 per pregnancy to 8. CONCLUSION: Prenatal visits can be decreased in a teaching hospital in women with uncomplicated pregnancies from the standard number, 12-14 visits, to an average of 7 or 8 per patient without adverse perinatal outcomes.