Pregnancy after periviable birth: making the case for innovative delivery of interpregnancy care*

*Results were presented at the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologist annual clinical and scientific meeting in San Diego, CA (May 2017).

Abstract

Objective: Women who have had a spontaneous periviable delivery are at high risk for recurrent preterm delivery. The objective of our study was to determine interpregnancy interval (IPI) after periviable birth as well as percentage of women taking 17 alpha hydroxyprogesteronecaproate (17OHP-C) after periviable birth. We then examined the association between adherence with a postpartum visit after a periviable birth and IPI as well as receipt of 17OHP-C.

Materials and methods: We included all women with a periviable delivery (20–26-week gestation) due to spontaneous preterm birth at Magee Women’s Hospital between 2009 and 2014, who had their subsequent delivery at our institution during or before May of 2016. Information on maternal, fetal, and neonatal outcomes was obtained from the Magee Obstetrical Medical and Infant (MOMI) database as well as chart abstraction. We calculated IPI, proportion of women who received 17OHP-C in their next pregnancy, and attendance rates with a postpartum visit. The relationship between attendance with a postpartum visit and IPI, and receipt of 17OHP-C was examined with a logistic regression.

Results: During the study period, 361 women had a spontaneous periviable birth. A total of 60 women had a subsequent delivery at Magee Women’s Hospital. Only 33/60 (52.5%) presented for a postpartum visit after their periviable delivery. The median IPI for the cohort was 12.5 months (interquartile range: 6.4, 17.5 months) and 21.0% (n = 13) had an IPI less than 6 months. Adherence with the postpartum visit was not associated with an IPI less than 6 months. A total of 18.33% (11 women) did not receive 17OHP-C in their subsequent pregnancy. Women who attended a postpartum visit were much more likely to receive 17OHP-C (p = .001).

Conclusions: Many women with a history of a periviable birth do not optimize strategies to reduce their risk of recurrent preterm birth. While attendance with a postpartum visit was associated with greater receipt of 17OHP-C in the subsequent pregnancy, given the overall poor rate of attendance with the postpartum visit in this cohort, novel strategies to counsel women about interpregnancy health are needed.

Keywords:

• Interpregnancy interval
• periviable birth
• postpartum care
• progesterone
• spontaneous preterm birth

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.