Transformative Use of an Improved All-Payer Hospital Discharge Data Infrastructure for Community-Based Participatory Research: A Sustainability Pathway

The Life Course Perspective on Older Adults' Health Trajectories: Risk and Protective Factors

According to the life course perspective (LCP), optimal human development and healthy aging are key goals that must start preconceptionally and continue later in life. However, older adult health and family health across generations have received very little attention in maternal and child health (MCH). Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an important strategy for putting the LCP into action by engaging those communities most affected by health disparities. We conducted six CBPR focus groups using the LCP as the theoretical framework to capture community members' perspectives of risk and protective factors for older adult health. Perceived protective factors for older adults included socialization, support systems, and practicing wellness. Perceived risk factors included caretaking responsibilities, isolation, medical issues, and lack of support. The identified risk and protective factors for older adult health must be considered when developing public health interventions that promote health equity in aging and MCH.

The impact of the ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM transition on the prevalence of birth defects among infant hospitalizations in the United States

BACKGROUND

Many public health surveillance programs utilize hospital discharge data in their estimation of disease prevalence. These databases commonly use the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) coding scheme, which transitioned from the ICD-9 clinical modification (ICD-9-CM) to ICD-10-CM on October 1, 2015. This study examined this transition's impact on the prevalence of major birth defects among infant hospitalizations.

METHODS

Using data from the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality-sponsored National Inpatient Sample, hospitalizations during the first year of life with a discharge date between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2016 were used to estimate the monthly national hospital prevalence of 46 birth defects for the ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM timeframes separately. Survey-weighted Poisson regression was used to estimate 95% confidence intervals for each hospital prevalence. Interrupted time series framework and corresponding segmented regression was used to estimate the immediate change in monthly hospital prevalence following the ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM transition.

RESULTS

Between 2012 and 2016, over 21 million inpatient hospitalizations occurred during the first year of life. Among the 46 defects studied, statistically significant decreases in the immediate hospital prevalence of five defects and significant increases in the immediate hospital prevalence of eight defects were observed after the ICD-10-CM transition.

CONCLUSIONS

Changes in prevalence were expected based on changes to ICD-10-CM. Observed changes for some conditions may result from variation in monthly hospital prevalence or initial unfamiliarity of coders with ICD-10-CM. These findings may help birth defects surveillance programs evaluate and interpret changes in their data related to the ICD-10-CM transition.

Survival and healthcare utilization of infants diagnosed with lethal congenital malformations

OBJECTIVE

We assessed survival, hospital length of stay (LOS), and costs of medical care for infants with lethal congenital malformations, and also examined the relationship between medical and surgical therapies and survival.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study including infants born 1998-2009 with lethal congenital malformations, identified using a longitudinally linked maternal/infant database.

RESULTS

The cohort included 786 infants: trisomy 18 (T18, n = 350), trisomy 13 (T13, n = 206), anencephaly (n = 125), bilateral renal agenesis (n = 53), thanatophoric dysplasia/achondrogenesis/lethal osteogenesis imperfecta (n = 38), and infants > 1 of the birth defects (n = 14). Compared to infants without birth defects, infants with T18, T13, bilateral renal agenesis, and skeletal dysplasias had longer survival rates, higher inpatient medical costs, and longer LOS.

CONCLUSION

Care practices and survival have changed over time for infants with T18, T13, bilateral renal agenesis, and skeletal dysplasias. This information will be useful for clinicians in counseling families and in shaping goals of care prenatally and postnatally.

Pregnancy as a window to future health: maternal placental syndromes and short-term cardiovascular outcomes

BACKGROUND

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among women. Identifying risk factors for future cardiovascular disease may lead to earlier lifestyle modifications and disease prevention. Additionally, interpregnancy development of cardiovascular disease can lead to increased perinatal morbidity in subsequent pregnancies. Identification and implementation of interventions in the short term (within 5 years of first pregnancy) may decrease morbidity in subsequent pregnancies.

OBJECTIVE

We identified the short-term risk (within 5 years of first pregnancy) of cardiovascular disease among women who experienced a maternal placental syndrome, as well as preterm birth and/or delivered a small-for-gestational-age infant.

STUDY DESIGN

We conducted a retrospective cohort study using a population-based, clinically enhanced database of women in the state of Florida. Nulliparous women and girls aged 15-49 years experiencing their first delivery during the study time period with no prepregnancy history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, or heart or renal disease were included in the study. The risk of subsequent cardiovascular disease was compared among women who did and did not experience a placental syndrome during their first pregnancy. Risk was then reassessed among women with placental syndrome and preterm birth or delivering a small-for-gestational-age infant vs those without these adverse pregnancy outcomes.

RESULTS

The final study population was 302,686 women and girls. Median follow-up time for each patient was 4.9 years. The unadjusted rate of subsequent cardiovascular disease among women and girls with any placental syndrome (11.8 per 1000 women) was 39% higher than the rate among women and girls without a placental syndrome (8.5 per 1000 women). Even after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, preexisting conditions, and clinical and behavioral conditions associated with the current pregnancy, women and girls with any placental syndrome experienced a 19% increased risk of cardiovascular disease (hazard ratio, 1.19; 95% confidence interval, 1.07-1.32). Women and girls with >1 placental syndrome had the highest cardiovascular disease risk (hazard ratio, 1.43; 95% confidence interval, 1.20-1.70), followed by those with eclampsia/preeclampsia alone (hazard ratio, 1.42; 95% confidence interval, 1.14-1.76). When placental syndrome was combined with preterm birth and/or small for gestational age, the adjusted risk of cardiovascular disease increased 45% (95% confidence interval, 1.24-1.71). Women and girls with placental syndrome who then developed cardiovascular disease experienced a 5-fold increase in health care-related costs during follow-up, compared to those who did not develop cardiovascular disease.

CONCLUSION

Women and girls experiencing placental syndromes and preterm birth or small-for-gestational-age infant are at increased risk of subsequent cardiovascular disease in short-term follow-up. Strategies to identify and improve cardiovascular disease risk in the postpartum period may improve future heart disease outcomes.

Infant Outcomes After Elective Early-Term Delivery Compared With Expectant Management

OBJECTIVE

To compare the risk of neonatal morbidity and infant mortality between elective early-term deliveries and those expectantly managed and delivered at 39 weeks of gestation or greater.

METHODS

We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study of 675,302 singleton infants born alive at 37-44 weeks of gestation from 2005 to 2009 in more than 125 birthing facilities in Florida. Data were collected from a validated, longitudinally linked maternal and infant database. The study population was categorized into exposure groups based on the timing and reason for delivery initiation-four subtypes of deliveries at 37-38 weeks of gestation and a comparison group of expectantly managed infants delivered at 39-40 weeks of gestation. Primary outcomes included neonatal respiratory morbidity, sepsis, feeding difficulties, admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and infant mortality.

RESULTS

Neonatal outcome rates ranged from 6.0% for respiratory morbidities to 1.3% for both sepsis and feeding difficulties, and the infant mortality rate was 1.5 per 1,000 live births. When compared with infants expectantly managed and delivered at 39-40 weeks of gestation, those delivered after elective induction at 37-38 weeks of gestation did not have increased odds of neonatal respiratory morbidity, sepsis, or NICU admission but did experience slightly higher odds of feeding difficulty (odds ratio 1.18, 99% confidence interval 1.02-1.36). In contrast, infants delivered by elective cesarean at 37-38 weeks of gestation had 13-66% increased odds of adverse outcomes. Survival experiences were similar when comparing early inductions and early cesarean deliveries with the expectant management group.

CONCLUSION

The issues that surround the timing and reasons for delivery initiation are complicated and each pregnancy unique. This study cautions against a general avoidance of all elective early-term deliveries.