Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

Timeliness and Adequacy of Prenatal Care Among Department of Veterans Affairs-Enrolled Veterans: The First Step May Be the Biggest Hurdle.

Katon JG, Shaw JG, Joyce VR, Schmitt SK, Phibbs CS. Timeliness and Adequacy of Prenatal Care Among Department of Veterans Affairs-Enrolled Veterans: The First Step May Be the Biggest Hurdle. Women's health issues : official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health. 2022 Jul 1; 32(4):411-417.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.
   Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions



Abstract:

INTRODUCTION: Little is known about access to and use of prenatal care by veterans using U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) maternity benefits. We compared the timeliness and adequacy of prenatal care by veteran status and payor. STUDY DESIGN: We used VA clinical and admistrative data linked with California vital statistics patient discharge data to identify all births to VA-enrolled veterans and non-veterans between 2000 and 2012. Births were categorized based on veteran status and payor (non-veterans with Medicaid, non-veterans with private insurance, VA-enrolled veterans using VA maternity care benefits, and VA-enrolled veterans with other payor). Outcomes were timeliness of prenatal care (initiation before the end of the first trimester) and adequacy of prenatal care as measured by the Kotelchuck Index (inadequate, intermediate, adequate). Covariates included demographic, health, and pregnancy characteristics. We used generalized linear models and multinomial logistic regression to analyze the association of veteran status and payor with timeliness of prenatal care and adequacy of prenatal care, respectively. RESULTS: We identified 6,196,432 births among VA-enrolled veterans (n  =  17,495) and non-veterans (n  =  6,178,937). Non-veterans using Medicaid had the lowest percentage of timely prenatal care (78.1%; n  =  2,240,326), followed by VA-enrolled veterans using VA maternity care benefits (82.8%; n  =  1,248). VA-enrolled veterans using VA maternity care benefits were the most likely to receive adequate prenatal care (92.0%; n  =  1,365). Results remained consistent after adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides key baseline data regarding access to and use of prenatal care by veterans using VA maternity benefits. Longitudinal studies including more recent data are needed to understand the impact of changing VA policy.





Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.