The region fares reasonably well by national and benchmark standards for prenatal care, but the most recent data suggest there is more work to be done. More
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Prenatal Care
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Non-Smoking Pregnancies
The data on smoking by pregnant women closely tracks the overall smoking report: Pittsburghers smoke. Pregnant women in Pittsburgh are more likely to smoke than women in the benchmark cities. More
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Low Birth-Weight Babies
Low birth weight is associated with long-term disabilities. Despite the low proportion of pregnancies resulting in LBW babies, expenditures for the care of LBW infants total more than half of the costs incurred for all newborns. Cigarette smoking is the greatest known risk factor for LBW. More
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Preterm Births
Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal deaths not associated with birth defects. Pittsburgh has a lower preterm birth rate than most benchmark cities, although African-American preterm birth rates are higher than the benchmark average. The Pittsburgh rate in this key indicator is better than most benchmark regions. More
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Mammography Rates
About 74.2 percent of women over 40 years of age in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area have had a mammogram in the past two years, slightly more than benchmark average of 73.6 percent, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. More
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Pap Smear Test Rates
About 81 percent of women age 21 to 65 in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area have had a pap smear test in the past three years–the fourth lowest percentage among all benchmark regions. Only Austin, Philadelphia and Indianapolis had lower rates. More
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Have Health Plan
Why do we do so poorly in these important measures of disease prevention? One possible partial explanation is that women in the Pittsburgh region have relatively low rates of health care coverage. For white women, Pittsburgh is fourth from the bottom. More
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Self-Reported Health Status
Health
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Self Reported Health Status
About 15 percent of people in the Pittsburgh region reported being in fair or poor health (based on their responses to one or more questions on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System’s questionnaire) in 2016. That percentage is in line with the average for Pittsburgh TODAY’s benchmark regions, but... More
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Doctor Too Costly
We also compared the percent of women who reported that they did not see a doctor because of cost in the previous year. Although indirect, this might tell us something about whether cost issues played a role in the failure to obtain mammography or a pap test. Black women in the Pittsburgh region have a... More