Abstract
Women with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or IDD, face significant health
and socioeconomic disparities during pregnancy and childbirth. Pregnant women with
IDD tend to be younger and less educated than their counterparts without disabilities
and are less likely to be married.1,2 They are also more likely to use public health
insurance and to smoke during pregnancy. 1,2 Furthermore, mothers with IDD are at an
increased risk for complications during pregnancy, including pre-eclampsia,
hypertension, premature labor, venous thromboembolism, and peripartum
hemorrhage. 1,2,3,4,5 To identify some of these disparities between the pregnancy
experiences of women with and without intellectual disabilities, we conducted a study
of pre-childbirth hospitalizations among women with and without IDD using the
Massachusetts Pregnancy to Early Life Longitudinal Data System (PELL).