Differences in health-care utilization in women with and without inflammatory bowel diseases during preconception, pregnancy and postpartum: A population-based cohort study.

Abstract

Compared to those without inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), women with IBD may have increased health-care utilization during pregnancy and postpartum, though this remains to be confirmed. We aimed to characterize this healthcare use between these groups. Administrative databases were accessed to identify women (age 18-55) with and without IBD who had a live, singleton pregnancy between 2003-2018. Differences in emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, and prenatal-care during 12-months preconception, pregnancy, and 12-months postpartum were characterized. Multivariable negative binomial regression was performed to report incidence rate ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Covariates included maternal age at conception, location of residence, socioeconomic status, and maternal comorbidity. 6163 women with IBD (9158 pregnancies) and 1,091,013 women without IBD (1,729,411 pregnancies) were included. Women with IBD were more likely to visit the ED (IRR 1.13, 95% CI,1.08-1.18) and be hospitalized (IRR 1.11, 95% CI,1.01-1.21) during pregnancy, and visit the ED (IRR 1.21, 95% CI, 1.15-1.27) and be hospitalized (IRR 1.18, 95% CI, 1.05-1.32) during postpartum. On unadjusted analysis, women with IBD were more likely to be hospitalized for venous thromboembolic events. There was no difference in healthcare use in preconception. Finally, women with IBD also had greater number of prenatal visits during pregnancy and were more likely to receive a first trimester prenatal visit. Women with IBD have increased healthcare utilization during pregnancy and postpartum. Efforts should be made to increase ambulatory care access during this period which in turn may reduce this health-services utilization.