Objective: To explore the better approach of measuring the living standards of family in household survey inorder to analysis the relationship between living standards of family and indices associated with perinatal care.
Methods: The data were collected by the research teams of the project "Impact of Multi-Micronutrient Supplementation during Pregnancy on Low Birth Weight & Selected Maternal & Neonatal Outcomes: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Western China" funded by MOH and UNICEF. The living standards of family classified by wealth index which was consumed to be the first principal component, and compare the perinatal care status among the different living standards of family.
Results: It was coherence between average income-consumption per person and wealth index constructed by the main component analysis. Rates of anemia in pre-pregnancy, preterm delivery, stillbirth and perinatal death in the poor families were more higher than those of the rich families. And the utilization ratios of free postnatal care in poor families were more higher than those of the rich families.
Conclusion: The wealth index constructed by the main component analysis could be suitable for measuring the living standards of families in rural areas. The wealth index was significantly associated with the anemia in third trimester and the perinatal deaths.