Study Data from University of Alabama Birmingham Update Understanding of Women’s Health (Characterizing Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy Among Medicaid Recipients In a Nonexpansion State)

2021 JUL 09 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on Women’s Health have been published. According to news reporting originating in Birmingham, Alabama, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The incidence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are on the rise in the United States, especially in the South, which has a heavy chronic disease burden and large number of Medicaid nonexpansion states. Sizeable disparities in HDP outcomes exist by race/ethnicity, geography, and health insurance coverage.”

Funders for this research include DHHS, MCHB, NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), United States Health Resources & Service Administration (HRSA).

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the University of Alabama Birmingham, “Our objective is to explore HDP in the Alabama Medicaid maternity population, and the association of maternal sociodemographic, clinical, and care utilization characteristics with HDP diagnosis. Data were from Alabama Medicaid delivery claims in 2017. Bivariate analyses were used to examine maternal characteristics by HDP diagnosis. Hierarchical generalized linear models, with observations nested at the county level, were used to assess multivariable relationships between maternal characteristics and HDP diagnosis. Among women with HDP diagnosis, a higher proportion were older, Black, had other comorbidities, and had more perinatal hospitalizations or emergency visits compared with those without HDP diagnosis. There were increased odds of an HDP diagnosis for older women and those with comorbidities. Black women (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.24, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.16-1.33), women insured only during pregnancy by Sixth Omnibus Reconciliation Act Medicaid (aOR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.02-1.15), and women entering prenatal care (PNC) in the second trimester (aOR = 1.10, 95% CI: 1.03-1.18) had elevated odds of HDP diagnosis compared with their counterparts. Beyond traditional demographic and clinical risk factors, not having preconception insurance coverage or first trimester PNC entry were associated with higher odds of HDP diagnosis.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Improving the provision and timing of maternity coverage among Medicaid recipients, particularly in nonexpansion states, may help identify and treat women at risk of HDP and associated adverse perinatal outcomes.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Characterizing Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy Among Medicaid Recipients In a Nonexpansion State. Journal of Women s Health, 2021. Journal of Women s Health can be contacted at: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc, 140 Huguenot Street, 3RD Fl, New Rochelle, NY 10801, USA.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Matthew D. Moore, University of Alabama Birmingham, School of Public Health, Dept. of Health Care Organization and Policy, 1665 Univ Blvd, Birmingham, AL 35294, United States. Additional authors for this research include Martha S. Wingate, Janet M. Bronstein and Sara E. Mazzoni.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2020.8741. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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