Postpartum Maternal Health – Public Health Workgroup Project

Describing Trends in Postpartum Outcomes

A growing body of public health literature documents racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in maternal and infant health. Disparate outcomes include maternal and infant mortality, severe maternal morbidity in childbirth, and low infant birthweight.

Considering the importance of addressing these issues, the PCAC championed infant/maternal mortality as a research area that needed more attention. With leadership from Joseph Feinglass, PhD, Northwestern Medicine Research Professor of and Preventive Medicine, and Lisa Masinter, MD, AllianceChicago Director of Research, CAPriCORN’s Public Health Work Group (PHWG) proposed a project to help address the disparities. The group developed a query capable of describing trends in postpartum outcomes for women whose postpartum care occurs within CAPriCORN-affiliated health systems.

PHWG’s proposal is to construct a 2-year window around delivery admissions at CAPriCORN network institutions, allowing for one year of “look back” and one-year follow up of identified mothers. The look back and follow-up periods will be used to assess hospital use after births and prenatal outpatient visits. The follow-up period will include post-delivery pregnancy-rated hospital use and postpartum care. Approximately a dozen maternal and infant post-partum outcomes and about 35 demographic and clinical risk factors have been identified as potential topics of investigation.

Collaborators of the Postpartum Maternal Health Project

• AllianceChicago
• CAPriCORN Patient Community Advisory Committee
• Chicago Department of Public Health
• DePaul University
• Northwestern University