Postpartum healthcare after gestational diabetes and hypertension.

Abstract

Gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy identify women with an elevated lifetime risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Prospective cohort of women recruited from the postpartum service of a large community-based academic obstetrical hospital after delivery of a pregnancy complicated by gestational diabetes (GDM) or a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy (HDP). Interviews were conducted, and validated surveys completed, before hospital discharge and again 3 months postpartum. The study sample included 249 women: 111 with GDM, 127 with HDP, and 11 with both. Most, 230 (92.4%) had a PCP prior to pregnancy and 97 (39.0%) reported an office visit with their PCP during the prenatal period. Of the 176 (70.7%) participants who attended the 3-month study visit, 169 (96.0%) women with either diagnosis reported they had attended their 6-week postpartum visit. By the 3-month study visit, 51 (57.9%) women with GDM had completed follow-up glucose testing; 93 (97.9%) with HDP had follow-up blood pressure testing; and 101 (57.4%) with either diagnosis recalled ever having completed lipid screening. Women least likely to complete screening tests were those who had no college education, less than a high school level of health literacy, and who were not privately insured. There are important opportunities to improve postpartum testing for diabetes and CVD risk factor assessment. Most women were connected to primary care suggesting a "hand-off" to a primary care physician after pregnancy is feasible. More robust strategies may be needed to improve follow-up care for women with less education, lower health literacy, and those without private health insurance.