Changes in work behavior during pregnancy in rural Anhui, China from 2001-03 to 2009: a population based cross-sectional study

Subas Neupane*, Bright I. Nwaru, Zhuochun Wu, Elina Hemminki

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Background: In low-and middle-income countries, many women continue working later into pregnancy. In our recent study on some areas in rural China, most women stopped working already during the first trimester (

Methods: A population-based cross-sectional survey with a representative sample of new mothers was carried out in one rural county in Anhui Province in 2001-03 (N = 1479 respondents) and in two other rural counties in 2009 (N = 1574 respondents). Both surveys were used to evaluate prenatal care interventions not related to work behavior. The surveys targeted all women who had recently given birth. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used to examine the determinants of work behavior in the two time periods.

Results: There was a big change in the working behavior between the two survey years: in the period 2001-03 6 % and in 2009, 53 % of pregnant women stopped working at

Conclusion: Stopping work very early during pregnancy appeared to have become very common from 2001-3 to 2009 in rural Anhui, China and was not explained by women's background characteristics.

Original languageEnglish
Article number34
Number of pages7
JournalBMC Women's Health
Volume16
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 Jul 2016

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Pregnancy
  • Working patterns
  • Maternal work
  • Rural China
  • OUTCOMES
  • WOMEN
  • CARE
  • DETERMINANTS
  • OCCUPATION
  • BIRTH
  • RISK
  • LIFE

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