Related Experiment Videos
[Beneficial effect of maternity leave on delivery]
Qian Xu1, Louise Séguin, Lise Goulet
1Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Groupe de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Santé, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7. qian.xu@umontreal.ca
Objective:
To identify the contribution of the duration of the prenatal maternity leave on term delivery.
Method:
Characteristics of the prenatal maternity leave and delivery among 363 working women who had delivered a full-term infant at 1 of 4 hospitals in Montreal during 1996 were studied.
Results:
The presence of an intervention or complication during delivery was observed in 68.9% of the participants. The average duration of the prenatal maternity leave was about 8 weeks (SD = 7). The adjusted risk of a difficult delivery decreased significantly with the duration of the prenatal maternity leave (OR = 0.96; 95% CI: 0.93-0.99).
Conclusion:
The duration of the maternity leave before delivery is associated with an easier term delivery for working women.