Ethnic-specific predictors of prenatal care utilisation in Hawaii

The state of Hawaii has had near-universal health insurance coverage for the last 20 years. Its highly diverse population offers the opportunity for a unique, natural experiment in the United States on the examination of social differences in health care utilisation when financial barriers are removed. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine predictors of prenatal care utilisation patterns in the four major ethnic groups in Hawaii. The data used in this study are the 1979-92 Hawaii livebirth vital record files. A total of 165,301 singleton livebirths to Hawaii-resident mothers of Caucasian, native Hawaiian, Japanese or Filipino ancestry were selected. Despite near-universal health care coverage in Hawaii, a surprising number of women did not adequately utilise prenatal care, with large differences between groups. Multivariate analyses indicated that similar maternal socio-demographic factors were associated with prenatal care use in each ethnic group. Social variation continues to exist among all ethnic groups even in the presence of universal access to care. These data emphasise the need to address the distinct cultural needs of populations for providing health services, and further challenge the assumption that removal of financial barriers will ensure a high level of prenatal care use.