Pregnancy status, perinatal care and child health

Mahmoud Ghazi-Tabatabaee, University of Tehran
Tavakkol Aghayari Hir, University of Tehran
AbouAli Vedad Hir, Tabriz University

Having remarkable effects on life expectancy and being one of important indicators of development, Child Health are increasingly came under considerations. Among various determinants of children health are; pregnancy status (wanted vs. unwanted/mistimed) and prenatal health care utilization. Recently experiencing rapid declines in fertility, Iran witnesses large proportions of unwanted/mistimed pregnancies in urban(22.7%) and rural(25.1%) areas. This study, using Iranian DHS-type nationally representative data, tries to investigate structural relationships among four variables; SES, Pregnancy Status, Perinatal Health Care Utilization, and Child's Health Status. Structural Equation Models are employed for this purpose. Different Fit Indices of the model are well above 0.9, indicate that specified model fits fairly well. Pregnancy Status significantly affects Perinatal Health Care Utilization and Perinatal Health Care Utilization, in turn, has significant effects on Child’s Health Status. Unwanted Pregnancies are less likely to be utilized health care and are more likely to face unhealthy conditions after delivery.