Postnatal checks and primary care consultations in the year following childbirth: an observational cohort study of 309573 women in the UK, 2006-2016
Author(s)
Smith, Holly Christina
Saxena, Sonia
Petersen, Irene
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Objective To describe women’s uptake of postnatal checks and primary care consultations in the year following childbirth.
Design Observational cohort study using electronic health records.
Setting UK primary care.
Participants Women aged 16–49 years who had given birth to a single live infant recorded in The Health Improvement Network (THIN) primary care database in 2006–2016.
Main outcome measures Postnatal checks and direct consultations in the year following childbirth.
Results We examined 1 427 710 consultations in 309 573 women who gave birth to 241 662 children in 2006–2016. Of these women, 78.7% (243 516) had a consultation at the time of the postnatal check, but only 56.2% (174 061) had a structured postnatal check documented. Teenage women (aged 16–19 years) were 12% less likely to have a postnatal check compared with those aged 30–35 years (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.88, 95% CI 0.85 to 0.91) and those living in the most deprived versus least deprived areas were 10% less likely (IRR 0.90, 95% CI 0.88 to 0.92). Women consulted on average 4.8 times per woman per year and 293 049 women (94.7%) had at least one direct consultation in the year after childbirth. Consultation rates were higher for those with a caesarean delivery (7.7 per woman per year, 95% CI 7.7 to 7.8). Consultation rates peaked during weeks 5–10 following birth (11.8 consultations/100 women) coinciding with the postnatal check.
Conclusions Two in 10 women did not have a consultation at the time of the postnatal check and four in 10 women have no record of receiving a structured postnatal check within the first 10 weeks after giving birth. Teenagers and those from the most deprived areas are among the least likely to have a check. We estimate up to 350 400 women per year in the UK may be missing these opportunities for timely health promotion and to have important health needs identified following childbirth.
Design Observational cohort study using electronic health records.
Setting UK primary care.
Participants Women aged 16–49 years who had given birth to a single live infant recorded in The Health Improvement Network (THIN) primary care database in 2006–2016.
Main outcome measures Postnatal checks and direct consultations in the year following childbirth.
Results We examined 1 427 710 consultations in 309 573 women who gave birth to 241 662 children in 2006–2016. Of these women, 78.7% (243 516) had a consultation at the time of the postnatal check, but only 56.2% (174 061) had a structured postnatal check documented. Teenage women (aged 16–19 years) were 12% less likely to have a postnatal check compared with those aged 30–35 years (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.88, 95% CI 0.85 to 0.91) and those living in the most deprived versus least deprived areas were 10% less likely (IRR 0.90, 95% CI 0.88 to 0.92). Women consulted on average 4.8 times per woman per year and 293 049 women (94.7%) had at least one direct consultation in the year after childbirth. Consultation rates were higher for those with a caesarean delivery (7.7 per woman per year, 95% CI 7.7 to 7.8). Consultation rates peaked during weeks 5–10 following birth (11.8 consultations/100 women) coinciding with the postnatal check.
Conclusions Two in 10 women did not have a consultation at the time of the postnatal check and four in 10 women have no record of receiving a structured postnatal check within the first 10 weeks after giving birth. Teenagers and those from the most deprived areas are among the least likely to have a check. We estimate up to 350 400 women per year in the UK may be missing these opportunities for timely health promotion and to have important health needs identified following childbirth.
Date Issued
2020-11-23
Date Acceptance
2020-09-02
Citation
BMJ Open, 2020, 10 (11)
ISSN
2044-6055
Publisher
BMJ Journals
Journal / Book Title
BMJ Open
Volume
10
Issue
11
Copyright Statement
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Sponsor
NIHR
Identifier
https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000604459900002&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Medicine, General & Internal
General & Internal Medicine
maternal medicine
primary care
epidemiology
reproductive medicine
HEALTH-PROBLEMS
MATERNAL MORBIDITY
PREVALENCE
PERIODS
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN e036835