133 HOMELESS AND PREGNANT
Fears as risks of premature births revealed
THE number of homeless women giving birth at one of the country’s biggest maternity hospitals has increased tenfold in as many years.
A study carried out at the Coombe Hospital in Dublin found 51 homeless women and 82 living in refuges attended there over the past decade.
A team of researchers found these patients were at a significantly higher risk of premature birth than those with stable living arrangements.
Dr Lyndsay Creswell said: “Pregnant women with unstable housing were more likely to be affected by other adverse socioeconomic determinants of health including cigarette smoking, substance misuse, and domestic violence than women with permanent accommodation.
“They were also more likely to experience a pre-term birth and give birth to infants with lower birth weights.” The study found over half the homeless women (54%) were Irish while three-quarters (75%) were single.
Three in four of the pregnancies were unplanned (73%) compared to 27% of women living in stable conditions.
It also found that 41% of pregnant women who were homeless smoked during the pregnancy compared to 9% of women with stable arrangements. Research found 1.4% of homeless mothers gave birth between 22 and 27 weeks gestation compared to 0.5% of women in permanent residence. Babies had a lower average birthweight of 3.27kg compared to 3.42kg among babies born to mothers with a permanent address.
Latest figures show there were 1,940 families accessing emergency accommodation – 4,027 of them children. There were 1,423 families and 3,083 child dependants in Dublin alone. Dr Creswell fears the figures on homelessness while pregnant are only the tip of the iceberg.
She warned: “There could be more women who do not consider themselves homeless, therefore will not have been included in our study.
“There is no universal definition for what being homeless constitutes, it could mean sleeping on a friend’s sofa or sleeping on the streets.”