Abstract
INTRODUCTION:Women with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are at high risk for pregnancy and delivery related complications. However, there are no population-based studies about postnatal hospital utilization among U.S. women with IDD. We sought to examine the risk of postnatal hospital utilization and emergency department (ED) visits among women with and without IDD.
METHODS:We conducted population-based retrospective cohort study using the 2002-09 Massachusetts Pregnancy to Early Life Longitudinal data and identified women with (N=541) and without IDD (N=1,623). The primary outcome measures were postnatal hospitalization and ED visits during the one-year postnatal period.
RESULTS:Women with IDD have significantly higher risk of hospitalization and emergency department visit than the general obstetric population during the one-year postnatal period. Namely, women with IDD have 3.4 times higher odds (OR; 95% CI, 2.61–4.40; p < 0.001) of being hospitalized and 2.3 times higher odds (OR; 95% CI, 1.82–2.87; p < 0.001) of being admitted to emergency department during the one-year postnatal period compared to the general obstetric population.
CONCLUSION:The findings of the study add to the emerging body of research on postnatal hospitalizations among women with IDD. Development, testing and implementation of evidence-based interventions that effectively support women with IDD during their postnatal period are critical. Furthermore, there is critical need for future research to develop postnatal care guidelines for women with IDD, understand the underlying mechanisms driving the increased postnatal hospitalizations, and educate health care professionals about the postnatal needs of women with IDD.