Racial differences in the association between partner abuse and barriers to prenatal health care among Asian and native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander women.

OBJECTIVES: Prenatal health care (PNC) is associated with positive maternal and infant health outcomes. There is limited knowledge regarding Native Hawaiians/Other Pacific Islanders (NHOPI) and Asian women's access to PNC especially among those with partner abuse (PA) experience. The objectives of this paper were to (1) describe and examine factors associated with PNC access barriers among mothers, by race; and, (2) determine the association between PA and PNC access, by race.

METHODS: We analyzed 2004-2007 data from Hawai'i's Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (n = 7,158). The outcome is > or = 1 experience with a PNC access barrier. PA is experience with physical violence from a partner. Descriptive statistics, and bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses stratified by race were conducted.

RESULTS: The respondents included 35.7% NHOPI, 37.4% Asian, 20.1% White and 6.6% Other. More than 6% experienced PA, and 25.9% reported > or = 1 PNC access barrier. Experience with PA was significantly associated with NHOPI and Asians reporting > or = 1 barrier to accessing PNC, but was non-significant with Whites.

CONCLUSIONS: Programs should address barriers to accessing PNC, and target NHOPI and Asian mothers with PA experience to reduce the healthcare disparity and improve quality of life.