Does level of antenatal care affect birthweight? Study of a Central Anatolian Region

The objective of this research was to measure the impact of the level and quality of antenatal care (ANC) on the birthweight (BW) of hospital-born infants. This study was cross-sectional research. This study was conducted at the maternity hospital and a private hospital in the center of the province of Yozgat, Turkey. Women (N=788) were included in the research who had a singleton live delivery at hospitals. It was found that adequate receipt of ANC was significant, although had little affect on BW; the number of ANC visits or whether ANC was adequate was not found to be significant. BW increased depending on primarily the mother's gestational age (GA) and then her age, height, and weight gained during pregnancy (p < 0.05). It is GA that impacts BW primarily. It is recommended that necessary interventions be made to minimize the factors leading to preterm births.