Utilization of Maternal Health Care Among Immigrant Mothers in New York City, 2016-2018

Increasing U.S. Maternal Health Equity Among Immigrant Populations Through Community Engagement

Immigrant women in the United States are at an elevated risk of poor maternal health outcomes due to cultural, linguistic, or socioeconomic barriers that may lead to critical delays in obtaining adequate health care. Ensuring access to high-quality, culturally appropriate perinatal health care is crucial to improve the health and well-being of immigrant mothers and their children. Various aspects of perinatal health care for immigrant women can be improved through community engagement strategies. Barriers can be addressed by involving community members in designing and delivering culturally appropriate maternal health services. Some strategies discussed in this commentary include working with community health workers, encouraging telehealth through community health workers, providing breastfeeding and mental health support within cultural norms, and involving community-based doulas and midwives.

Social determinants of health and vaccine uptake in pregnancy: Disparities in a diverse, predominately foreign-born population

OBJECTIVE

To identify discrepancies in influenza, Tdap, and COVID-19 vaccine uptake and offer rates among pregnant individuals across various social determinants of health including race, ethnicity, foreign-born status, education level, and health insurance coverage, highlighting potential interventions to improve vaccine uptake in pregnancy.

METHODS

An IRB-approved cross-sectional survey was conducted on the postpartum floor of a large urban hospital in South Florida. Between July to September 2021, 359 participants consented and answered questions on their demographics, social background, and influenza, Tdap, and COVID-19 vaccine history.

RESULTS

Most participants identified as White (67.7 %), Hispanic (67.4 %), and foreign-born (68.5 %) with an average age of 29.7 ± 6 years. There was a significant difference in mean vaccine between White (1.3) and Black individuals (0.9, p = 0.002). Mean uptake was significantly higher in foreign-born individuals (1.3) compared to US-born (0.9, p < 0.001). Mean uptake was significantly higher for those with graduate (1.7) and college (1.4) degrees compared to those with a high school degree (1.0) or less than high school (1.0, p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

Significant differences in the uptake and offer rates of influenza, Tdap, and COVID-19 vaccines were observed across a variety of social determinants including educational attainment, employment, insurance, and median income of the zip code of primary residence.

Perinatal health outcomes of international migrant women in Brazil: A nationwide data linkage study of the CIDACS birth cohort (2011-2018)

BACKGROUND

We investigated perinatal outcomes among live births from international migrant and local-born mothers in a cohort of low-income individuals in Brazil.

METHODS

We linked nationwide birth registries to mortality records and socioeconomic data from the CIDACS Birth Cohort and studied singleton live births of women aged 10-49 years from 1st January 2011 to 31st December 2018. We used logistic regressions to investigate differences in antenatal care, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and neonatal (i.e., ≤28 days) mortality among international migrants compared to non-migrants in Brazil; and explored the interaction between migration, race/ethnicity and living in international border municipalities.

RESULTS

We studied 10,279,011 live births, of which 9469 (0.1 %) were born to international migrants. Migrant women were more likely than their Brazilian-born counterparts to have a previous foetal loss (ORadj: 1.16, 1.11-1.22), a delayed start of antenatal care (i.e., beyond 1st trimester) (1.22, 95%CI:1.16-1.28), a newborn who is large for gestational age (1.29, 1.22-1.36), or a newborn with congenital anomalies (1.37, 1.14-1.65). Conversely, migrant women were less likely to deliver prematurely (0.89, 0.82-0.95) or have a low birth weight infant (0.74, 0.68-0.81). There were no differences in neonatal mortality rates between migrants and non-migrants. Our analyses also showed that, when disparities in perinatal outcomes were present, disparities were mostly concentrated among indigenous mothers in international borders and among live births of Black mothers in non-borders.

CONCLUSION

Although live births of international migrants generally have lower rates of adverse birth outcomes, our results suggest that indigenous and Black migrant mothers may face disproportionate barriers to accessing antenatal care.

Risk and protective factors for pregnancy-related urinary incontinence until 1 year postpartum: A cohort study using patient-reported outcome measures in Italy

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the epidemiology of pregnancy-related urinary incontinence (UI) and the related risk factors, focusing also on women's characteristics related to maternity pathway utilization.

METHODS

In this prospective cohort study, we used patient-reported data obtained from the systematic survey on the maternity pathway that all pregnant women in Tuscany, Italy, can join. We selected 8410 women who completed-between March 2019 and November 2022-all five follow-up questionnaires from the first trimester until 12 months postpartum, each including a UI-specific patient-reported outcome measure. We performed panel regression models to explore the related risk factors.

RESULTS

Prevalence of UI was 4.4% at the first trimester, 23.7% at the third trimester, and 15.6%, 12.6%, and 12.4% at 3, 6, and 12 months postpartum. UI occurrence and severity were higher in older, overweight/obese, and unemployed women. High-risk pregnancy and discomfort during pregnancy were risk factors. Receiving a cesarean section reduced the risk, while spontaneous tears, episiotomy, and high birth weight increased it. Women who experienced delays in pregnancy examinations because of long waiting times and women who had planned pregnancy had a higher risk, while performing during-pregnancy pelvic-floor-muscle training was protective.

CONCLUSION

Besides confirming the classic risk and protective factors for UI, we also found novel determinants related to the proper maternity pathway utilization.

State Public Insurance Coverage Policies and Postpartum Care Among Immigrants

Importance

Professional medical organizations recommend that adults receive routine postpartum care. Yet, some states restrict public insurance coverage for undocumented immigrants and recently documented immigrants (those who received legal documentation status within the past 5 years).

Objective

To examine the association between public insurance coverage and postpartum care among low-income immigrants and the difference in receipt of postpartum care among immigrants relative to nonimmigrants.

Design, Setting, and Participants

A pooled, cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System for 19 states and New York City including low-income adults with a live birth between 2012 and 2019.

Exposure

Giving birth in a state that offered public insurance coverage for postpartum care to recently documented or undocumented immigrants.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Self-reported receipt of postpartum care by the category of coverage offered (full coverage: states that offered publicly funded postpartum care regardless of immigration status; moderate coverage: states that offered publicly funded postpartum care to lawfully residing immigrants without a 5-year waiting period, but did not offer postpartum care to undocumented immigrants; no coverage: states that did not offer publicly funded postpartum care to lawfully present immigrants before 5 years of legal residence or to undocumented immigrants).

Results

The study included 72 981 low-income adults (20 971 immigrants [29%] and 52 010 nonimmigrants [71%]). Of the 19 included states and New York City, 6 offered full coverage, 9 offered moderate coverage, and 4 offered no coverage; 1 state (Oregon) switched from offering moderate coverage to offering full coverage. Compared with the states that offered full coverage, receipt of postpartum care among immigrants was 7.0-percentage-points lower (95% CI, -10.6 to -3.4 percentage points) in the states that offered moderate coverage and 11.3-percentage-points lower (95% CI, -13.9 to -8.8 percentage points) in the states that offered no coverage. The differences in the receipt of postpartum care among immigrants relative to nonimmigrants were also associated with the coverage categories. Compared with the states that offered full coverage, there was a 3.3-percentage-point larger difference (95% CI, -5.3 to -1.4 percentage points) in the states that offered moderate coverage and a 7.7-percentage-point larger difference (95% CI, -10.3 to -5.0 percentage points) in the states that offered no coverage.

Conclusions and Relevance

Compared with states without insurance restrictions, immigrants living in states with public insurance restrictions were less likely to receive postpartum care. Restricting public insurance coverage may be an important policy-driven barrier to receipt of recommended pregnancy care and improved maternal health among immigrants.

Exploring Prenatal Care Quality and Access During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Pregnant Immigrants in Philadelphia Through the Lens of Community-Based Organizations

Background

The peak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to decreased maternal and child health care engagement, especially among marginalized populations. Existing disparities in prenatal care access and quality faced by pregnant immigrant people are likely to be amplified by the pandemic.

Materials and Methods

We conducted a study with direct service providers (DSPs) at community-based organizations (CBOs) serving pregnant immigrant families in the Philadelphia region. Semistructured interviews addressed barriers and facilitators to prenatal health care access and engagement among immigrant families both before and then after the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Additional questions elicited context about the demographics of service populations, organizational connectedness to health care providers, and pandemic-related operational changes.

Results

Between June and November 2021, 10 interviews were conducted in English and Spanish with DSPs at 5 CBOs. Primary themes included diminished access and quality of care received due to decreased language accessibility, increased restrictions around support persons, shifts to telemedicine, and changes to appointment scheduling. Additional themes included heightened hesitancy engaging with services due to documentation status, confusion around legal rights, financial strain, and health insurance status. Interviewees provided suggestions for improving service access during and postpandemic for immigrant pregnant people, including implementation of culturally responsive group prenatal care, institutional policies to improve understanding of legal rights, and increased financial supports.

Conclusions

Understanding emergent and exacerbated barriers to prenatal care access and quality during the COVID-19 pandemic provides context for how to improve health equity for immigrant pregnant people through public health and health care policies as the pandemic continues, and once it has subsided.

Uptake of antepartum care services in a matrilineal-matrilocal society: a study of Garo indigenous women in Bangladesh

BACKGROUND

The indigenous Garo is a close-knit matrilineal-matrilocal community. This community's expectant mothers receive less antepartum biomedical care, making them prone to maternal mortality. This study developed a conceptual framework to explore how the external environment, personal predispositions, enabling components and perceived antepartum care needs influence and generate a gap in antepartum biomedical care uptake.

METHODS

The author used qualitative data from the study area. The data were collected through conducting 24 semi-structured interviews with purposively selected Garo women. After transcribing the data, the author generated the themes, grouped them into two broader domains, and analyzed them using the grounded theory approach.

RESULTS

The emergent themes suggest adding the external environment (i.e., healthcare facilities' availability and services and culturally relevant healthcare services) to Anderson's behavioral model to understand indigenous women's antepartum care uptake disparity. Antepartum care uptake disparities arise when Andersen's behavioral model's other three drivers-personal predisposition, enabling components, and needs components-interact with the external environment. The interplay between enabling resources and the external environment is the conduit by which their predispositions and perceived needs are shaped and, thus, generate a disparity in antepartum care uptake. The data demonstrate that enabling resources include gendered power dynamics in families, home composition and income, men's spousal role, community practices of maternal health, and mother groups' and husbands' knowledge. Birth order, past treatment, late pregnancy, and healthcare knowledge are predispositions. According to data, social support, home-based care, mental health well-being, cultural norms and rituals, doctors' friendliness, affordable care, and transportation costs are perceived needs.

CONCLUSIONS

Garo family members (mothers/in-laws and male husbands) should be included in health intervention initiatives to address the problem with effective health education, highlighting the advantages of biomedical antepartum care. Health policymakers should ensure the availability of nearby and culturally appropriate pregnancy care services.

Analysis of State Medicaid Expansion and Access to Timely Prenatal Care Among Women Who Were Immigrant vs US Born

IMPORTANCE

Disparities exist in access to timely prenatal care between immigrant women and US-born women. Exclusions from Medicaid eligibility based on immigration status may exacerbate disparities.

OBJECTIVE

To examine changes in timely prenatal care by nativity after Medicaid expansion.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

A cross-sectional difference-in-differences (DID) and triple-difference analysis of 22 042 624 singleton births from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2019, in 31 states was conducted using US natality data. Data analysis was performed from February 1, 2021, to August 24, 2022.

EXPOSURES

Within 16 states that expanded Medicaid in 2014, the rate of timely prenatal care by nativity in years after expansion was compared with the rate in the years before expansion. Similar comparisons were conducted in 15 states that did not expand Medicaid and tested across expansion vs nonexpansion states.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Timely prenatal care was categorized as prenatal care initiated in the first trimester. Individual-level covariates included age, parity, race and ethnicity, and educational level. State-level time-varying covariates included unemployment, poverty, and Immigrant Climate Index.

RESULTS

A total of 5 390 814 women preexpansion and 6 544 992 women postexpansion were included. At baseline in expansion states, among immigrant women, 413 479 (27.3%) were Asian, 110 829 (7.3%) were Black, 752 176 (49.6%) were Hispanic, and 238 746 (15.8%) were White. Among US-born women, 96 807 (2.5%) were Asian, 470 128 (12.1%) were Black, 699 776 (18.1%) were Hispanic, and 2 608 873 (67.3%) were White. Prenatal care was timely in 75.9% of immigrant women vs 79.9% of those who were US born in expansion states at baseline. After Medicaid expansion, the immigrant vs US-born disparity in timely prenatal care was similar to the preexpansion level (DID, -0.91; 95% CI, -1.91 to 0.09). Stratifying by race and ethnicity showed an increase in the Asian vs White disparity after expansion, with 1.53 per 100 fewer immigrant women than those who were US born accessing timely prenatal care (95% CI, -2.31 to -0.75), and in the Hispanic vs White disparity (DID, -1.18 per 100; 95% CI, -2.07 to -0.30). These differences were more pronounced among women with a high school education or less (DID for Asian women, -2.98; 95% CI, -4.45 to -1.51; DID for Hispanic women, -1.47; 95% CI, -2.48 to -0.46). Compared with nonexpansion states, differences in DID estimates were found among Hispanic women with a high school education or less (triple-difference, -1.86 per 100 additional women in expansion states who would not receive timely prenatal care; 95% CI, -3.31 to -0.42).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

The findings of this study suggest that exclusions from Medicaid eligibility based on immigration status may be associated with increased health care disparities among some immigrant groups. This finding has relevance to current policy debates regarding Medicaid coverage during and outside of pregnancy.