Background
: Though there are some women who deliver at hospital that they have not visited for prenatal care, there are only a little knowledge about the reason and effect of such behavior.

Methods : Data were gathered from 121 women who gave birth at Pochun medical center during September 1993 and who met the inclusion criteria by paper-interview and chart reviews. They were composed of 59 controls who received prenatal care at Pochun medical center and 62 cases who did not receive prenatal care at that center.

Results : The most frequent reason for self-changing hospital was patient's desire to deliver at the place near her mother's home(37.2%). Other reasons were mere preference for general hospital(19.4%), self-change due to medical problem(12.9%) and so on. There were no difference in average birth weight, types of delivery, average delivery cost.

Conclusion : Most reasons were not related to medical problems. There were no significant difference between cases and controls in delivery outcome.