Prevalence of drug use among pregnant women in a rural area.

Abstract

To determine the prevalence of alcohol and illegal drug use among pregnant women in a rural midwestern area. Descriptive, prospective study. Private tertiary medical center in a rural midwestern area. A nonprobability convenience sample of 202 women enrolling for prenatal care. Hypothesized that the prevalence of alcohol and illegal drug use by pregnant women in a rural midwestern area may be similar to the prevalence in urban areas. The prevalence for perinatal drug use among the sample was 3.9%, with a 95% exact binomial confidence interval of 1.7% to 7.7%. The 3.9% prevalence level is significantly lower than the 11% prevalence levels projected by urban studies (p = .0006). Additional studies need to be conducted on rural populations, however, with periodic testing performed throughout pregnancy. Further studies should examine, through self-reporting, prevalence rates of tobacco and alcohol use during pregnancy.