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Maternal Health

Maternal health during and immediately after pregnancy is strongly correlated with access to and quality of prenatal medical care; nutrition; and food security. RAND's research on maternal health throughout the world includes studies of prenatal obstetric care for low-income women, the effects of public assistance on birth outcomes, maternal and infant mortality, family planning and birth spacing, prenatal substance use, and maternal mental health.

Journal Article

Measuring Childbirth Outcomes Using Administrative and Birth Certificate Data

The aim of this study was to develop a risk-adjusted composite measure of severe maternal morbidity and severe newborn morbidity based on administrative and birth certificate data.

Jan 22, 2021
Journal Article

Engaging Patients and Professionals to Evaluate the Seriousness of Maternal and Child Health Outcomes: Protocol for a Modified Delphi Study

This article determines the seriousness of 11 maternal and child health outcomes associated with pregnancy weight gain, by engaging patients and maternal and child health professionals using an online modified Delphi panel process.

Jan 12, 2021
Journal Article

Rating the Seriousness of Maternal and Child Health Outcomes Linked with Pregnancy Weight Gain

This article estimates the seriousness of eleven maternal and child health outcomes that have been consistently associated with pregnancy weight gain by engaging patients and health professionals.

Jan 12, 2021
Report

Examining Interventions to Address Infant Mortality in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

The authors use predictive models and a causal inference framework to understand the effectiveness of infant-mortality interventions in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, where poor birth and infant outcomes and pronounced racial disparities persist.

Jan 6, 2021
Journal Article

The Use of and Experiences With Telelactation Among Rural Breastfeeding Mothers: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial

The objective of this study was to identify maternal characteristics associated with the demand for and use of telelactation and to describe visit characteristics.

Nov 17, 2020
Journal Article

The Affordable Care Act, Breastfeeding, and Breast Pump Health Insurance Coverage

Viewpoint on the Affordable Care Act, breastfeeding, and breast pump health insurance coverage.

Nov 17, 2020
Journal Article

On the Value of the Umbilical Cord Blood Supply

Several public cord blood banks are struggling financially, and the question remains whether additional allocations of funds to them are justified. This article estimates the social benefits of public cord blood bank inventory net of cord blood banks' operational costs.

Nov 17, 2020
Journal Article

Feasibility and Effectiveness of Telelactation Among Rural Breastfeeding Women

This article evaluates the feasibility and impact of telelactation via personal electronic devices on breastfeeding duration and exclusivity among rural women.

Nov 13, 2020
Journal Article

Use of Virtual Breastfeeding Support Among Underserved, Rural Mothers

To assess predictors of utilization and telelactation visit characteristics, we merged and analyzed data from two sources: visit-level data supplied by the telelactation vendor and longitudinal surveys of women in the intervention group at four timepoints.

Nov 13, 2020
Journal Article

Effects of Women's Weight Changes on Adverse Outcomes in a Second Pregnancy

This article estimates the effects of women's weight changes in four sequential perinatal periods across first and second pregnancies on adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes in the second pregnancy.

Nov 13, 2020
Journal Article

Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Among Pregnant Women Referred by Criminal Justice Agencies Before and After Medicaid Expansion: A Retrospective Study of Admissions to Treatment Centers in the United States

Pregnant women with OUD referred by criminal justice agencies between 1992 and 2017 were consistently less likely to receive evidence-based treatment than women referred through other sources.

Jun 30, 2020
Research Brief

Reducing Child Deaths in Nigeria

A program paid expectant mothers in Nigeria to use prenatal, delivery, and postnatal health services, resulting in an increase in use of care. This led to a substantial decrease in child deaths. Scaling this program up across Nigeria could reduce stillbirths by 85,000 annually.

Jun 22, 2020
Journal Article

Maternal Cash Transfers Led To Increases In Facility Deliveries And Improved Quality Of Delivery Care In Nigeria

A randomized controlled trial in Nigeria evaluated an intervention that paid pregnant women to deliver in a health facility, which led to a 41% increase in facility deliveries. We found improvements in the quality of delivery care and in satisfaction with care.

Jun 4, 2020
Journal Article

Consensus Guidelines and State Policies: The Gap Between Principle and Practice at the Intersection of Substance Use and Pregnancy

We review the change over time in state-level policy environments around substance use in pregnancy and contrast the policy response with the principles and guidance from professional societies and federal agencies.

Jun 3, 2020
Blog

Infectious Diseases, Zimbabwe, Students with Disabilities: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the U.S. response to infectious diseases, Zimbabwe after Mugabe, the support for students with disabilities, and more.

Feb 14, 2020
Infographic

State Policies Related to Substance Use in Pregnancy

This infographic illustrates the evolution from 2000 to 2015 of state policy environments related to substance use in pregnancy. Punitive or potentially punitive policies were more commonly enacted than were policies supporting treatment.

Feb 14, 2020
Journal Article

Five-Year Outcomes Among Medicaid-Enrolled Children With In Utero Opioid Exposure

Children with in utero opioid exposure had a predicted probability of being diagnosed with a pediatric complex chronic condition similar to that among children with tobacco exposure and those with neither exposure (20.4%,18.7%, and 20.2%, respectively). Our findings were consistent when we examined a subgroup of opioid-exposed children identified as having neonatal opioid withdrawal symptoms.

Feb 6, 2020
Commentary

Policies That Punish Pregnant Women for Substance Use Don't Help Mother or Baby

About half of all U.S. states now have policies that criminalize substance use during pregnancy, consider it grounds for civil commitment, or consider it child abuse or neglect. But research suggests that punitive policies aren't beneficial for infants or their mothers.

Jan 28, 2020
News Release

The NHS Spends Significantly Less on Pregnancy-Related Research Compared with Other Health Conditions

The National Health Service spends significantly less on pregnancy-related research compared with other health conditions. Funding for pregnancy research totaled £255 million from 2013 to 2017, or about £51 million a year. As pregnancy care costs the NHS £5.8 billion annually, this means that for every £1 spent on pregnancy care, less than 1 penny is spent on research.

Jan 14, 2020
Report

Pregnancy research review: Policy report

This study presents a review of UK pregnancy research needs and priorities, comparing this to current research expenditure and setting the findings in the context of NHS costs related to pregnancy.

Jan 13, 2020

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