Open Access

Jadranko Šegregur, Domagoj Šegregur

• Introduction: This study reports about antenatal characteristics of Roma minority population. The study was designed to investigate data about health behaviours known to be associated with reproductive outcomes of Roma women that have very good living conditions and relatively high resource availability. Methods: A retrospective study included 204 Roma and 408 non-Roma hospitalised singleton births that occurred in the Maternity Ward of the General Hospital Virovitica in the period from 1991 to 2010. Data about women’s age, marital status, smoking, reproductive health (abortions, delivery), antenatal care, perinatal complications and gestational age were taken from hospital records and analysed. Results: Roma women were averagely more than three years younger than non-Roma women, only 10.8% were married. Smoking was more frequent. The average number of births of Roma and non-Roma women was similar, averagely two children per woman. The rate of induced abortions in the Roma women was higher, while the frequency of spontaneous abortions was equal. Inadequate antenatal care of Roma women was associated with two times higher incidence of perinatal complications. A higher frequency of deliveries at home without professional assistance in Roma pregnancy resulted in lower perinatal outcomes. It was confirmed that Roma mothers give birth earlier (38+6 vs. 39+4 weeks) and have a higher incidence of premature births (9.3% vs. 2.2%). Conclusions: In the comparison of antenatal parameters between the two researched groups, poorer prenatal outcomes in the Roma population were found, despite full integration and considerable improvement in living standards of this ethnic Roma population.
• HrvaškaNamen. Raziskava prikazuje antenatalne značilnosti romske manjšinske populacije v hrvaški regiji Virovitica-Podravje. Analizira podatke o zdravstvenem stanju, povezanem z reproduktivnimi značilnostmi romskih žensk, ki živijo v relativno dobrih življenjskih razmerah. Metode. V retrospektivno raziskavo so bile vključene 204 romske ženske ter 408 neromskih žensk, ki so rodile v porodnišnici Splošne bolnišnice Virovitica v obdobju od leta 1991 do leta 2010. Iz zgodovine bolezni porodnic so zbrani podatki o starosti žensk, njihovem zakonskem stanu, kajenju, reprodukcijskih značilnostih (splavi, porodi), atenatalni skrbi, perinatalnih zapletih in gestacijski dobi žensk. Rezultati. Romske ženske so, ko rodijo, v povprečju več kot tri leta mlajše od neromskih žensk, le 10,8% romskih žensk je poročenih. Kajenje kot del tradicionalnega romskega življenja je pri romskih ženskah znatno pogostejše. Število porodov v obeh skupinah je podobno: vsaka ženska rodi povprečno dvakrat. Pogostost namernih splavov je pri romskih ženskah višja, medtem ko je pogostost spontanih splavov v obeh skupinah enaka. Neustrezna antenatalna skrb romskih žensk je povezana z dvakrat večjo pogostostjo perinatalnih zapletov. Pogostejše rojevanje romskih žensk doma, brez strokovne pomoči, prinaša slabše perinatalne rezultate. Potrjeno je, da romske ženske rojevajo prej (38+6 proti 39+4 tednov). Pri romskih ženskah je porod prezgoden v 9,3%, pri neromskih pa v 2,2%. Zaključek. Primerjava antenatalnih značilnosti preučevanih skupin žensk je pokazala slabši perinatalni rezultat pri romskih ženskah kljub popolni integraciji in dobrim življenjskim razmeram te etnične populacije.