here. - Canadian Women's Health Network

3. What Does This Mean?As in other jurisdictions, we have found aconnection between income and healthservices utilization for Manitoba womenfor most conditions. A strong connectionwas found in the case of pregnancy, labourand delivery, especially among youngerwomen. Further research would benecessary to determine whether, andto what extent, this is due to higherpregnancy and birth rates among lowerincome women and/or drift to lower incomeneighbourhoods as a result of pregnancyand childbirth.Carole Beaudoin of the Epidemiology Unit,Public Health Branch, Manitoba Healthprovided some additional data on thesubject of pregnancy and income for theCity of Winnipeg alone. These data are notdirectly comparable to that presented inCharts 1 through 5 above. However, itdoes show that pregnancy rates arehighest among Winnipeg women living inthe lowest income neighbourhoods, witha stepwise progression downward, sothat young women living in Winnipeg’swealthiest neighbourhoods have the lowestpregnancy rates (see Chart 6). These dataalso show that birth rates were highest,and abortion rates lowest, among youngwomen in the lowest income quintiles.Birth rates decreased, and abortion ratesCHART 61996 Pregnancy Rate According toIncome Quintiles for Winnipeg Postal Code Areas$18,324 - $34,472 $34,473 - $42,532 $42,533 - $47,421 $47,422 - $51,165 $51,166 - $84,146Women, Income andHealth in Manitoba41