The impact of prenatal care on birth weight. Evidence from an international data set.

The impact of prenatal visits on birth weight in six countries is studied using data from an international collaborative maternity care monitoring project. The analyses presented pertain only to those women having singleton live births and whose pregnancies went to term. Results of the analyses indicate that around the world the number of prenatal visits is significantly related to birth weight. Controlling for other variables known to influence birth weight does not change the relationship. Further, contrary to previous research, there are no significant interactions with other variables.