Postpartum Care by Midwives: Socioeconomic Status has a Strong Influence on the Amount of Care Received An Analysis with Routine Data from BARMER Health Insurance

Abstract

Socio-economic situation is associated with inequalities in access to health care and health-related resources. This also applies to pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period. Compared to other European countries, Germany has very good care options for the postpartum period. It has an unique system of postpartum care, which comprises home visits by midwives for 12 weeks after birth and beyond in problem cases and thus has structurally good care options. So far, however, there are hardly any studies based on routine data that show which mothers receive homevisits in postpartum care and to what extent. The study population comprised 199,978 women insured with BARMER who gave birth to at least one child in the years 2017-2020. Some women were pregnant several times in this period of time. The services billed by freelance midwives for outreach midwifery care in the puerperium were considered for 227,088 births, taking into account the socioeconomic situation of the mothers. According to the definition of the German Institute for Economic Research, 26% of the mothers belonged to a low income group, 46% to a medium income group and 29% to a high income group. Similar to what was shown for midwifery care during pregnancy, large differences were also found with regard to postpartum care: While 90.5% of the women with a high income received home visits, only 83.5% of women with a medium income did so, and only 67.9% of women with a low income. The groups did not differ with regard to other characteristics such as rate of caesarean section, preterm births, twins, age or concomitant diseases to an extent that could explain the differences in care. Women who had received midwifery services in pregnancy were much more likely to receive home visits by a midwife in the postpartum period. Furthermore, there was a correlation with the density of midwives in the respective region. The results suggest that access to home-based postpartum care by freelance midwives is significantly limited for low-income women. In contrast to antenatal care, women in the postpartum period cannot switch to other service providers, as outreach postpartum care is a reserved activity of midwives. Women with low incomes thus receive less midwifery care, although they have a higher need for support (Eickhorst et al. 2016).