The beneficial use of risk scoring in a remote and high-risk pregnant population

The Peninsula and Torres Strait Health Region in Far North Queensland is a large and remote region with a high incidence of at-risk pregnancies and few experienced caregivers to provide antenatal care. Pregnancy Risk Scoring was trialled as a means of best allocating meagre resources. All 3,679 women with singleton pregnancies who gave birth at Cairns Base Hospital were studied over a 30-month period, during which time the Hospital and Regional perinatal mortality rates fell by more than 50%. Risk scoring was applied to 2,875 of these pregnancies. Preterm birth, the birth of low birth-weight babies, and birth intervention were less likely to occur in those women with a low-risk score, with the lower likelihood of preterm birth reaching clear statistical significance. Where pregnancy care resources are scarce and large numbers of high-risk pregnant women are scattered throughout a remote area it would appear that risk scoring assists positively with decisions about the best use of resources.