Prenatal care and child growth and schooling in four low- and medium-income countries

Background: The effectiveness of prenatal care for improving birth and subsequent child outcomes in low-income countries remains controversial, with much of the evidence to date coming from high-income countries and focused on early-life outcomes. We examined associations between prenatal care visits and birth weight, height-for-age at 24 months and attained schooling in four low- and middle-income countries. Methods: We pooled data from prospective birth-cohort studies from Brazil, Guatemala, Philippines and South Africa. We created a prenatal care utilization index based on the number and timing of prenatal visits. Associations were examined between this index and birth weight, height-for-age at 24 months, and highest attained schooling grade until adulthood. Results: Among 7203 individuals in the analysis, 68.9% (Philippines) to 96.7% (South Africa) had at least one prenatal care visit, with most having at least four visits. Over 40% of Brazilians and Guatemalans had their first prenatal visit in the first trimester, but fewer Filipinos (13.9%) and South Africans (19.8%) did so. Prenatal care utilization was not significantly associated with birth weight (p>0.05 in pooled data). Each unit increase in the prenatal care utilization index was associated with 0.09 (95% CI 0.04 to 0.15) higher height-for-age z-score at 24 months and with 0.26 (95% CI 0.17 to 0.35) higher schooling grades attained. Although there was some heterogeneity and greater imprecision across sites, the results were qualitatively similar among the four different populations. Conclusions: While not related to birth weight, prenatal care utilization was associated with important outcomes later in life, specifically higher height-for-age at 24 months and higher attained school grades. These results suggest the relevance of prenatal care visits for human capital outcomes important over the lifecycle.