56% of new moms miss postpartum checkups
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More than half of new mothers in the U.S. are missing critical postpartum checkups, new data shows.
Why it matters: Postpartum visits save lives.
- The risk to maternal health doesn't end after an initial postpartum appointment: A recent JAMA Network Open study found that nearly one-third of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. occurred six weeks to one year postpartum.
By the numbers: 56% of new moms skipped postpartum follow-up visits within three to eight weeks of childbirth, per a new analysis from health data company Cedar Gate.
- That's a sharp jump from previous national estimates (about 40%).
- Younger women (ages 20 to 24) were more likely than older moms (ages 40 to 44) to miss those visits.
The fine print: Cedar Gate analyzed a national database of millions of commercially insured patients from July 2022 to June 2023.
Catch up quick: In 2018, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) updated its guidance to recommend a postpartum check-in within three weeks of birth and a full exam by 12 weeks — a shift from the previous six-week standard.
- Patients with C-section births, gestational diabetes, hypertensive disorders or other comorbidities with their pregnancies "are going to also need a visit within the first seven days after giving birth," says Jane van Dis, an OB hospitalist who practices in New York.
Patients without preexisting health concerns should get timely postpartum care, too, because life-threatening conditions can emerge after birth, like postpartum preeclampsia and blood clots, says van Dis.
- Postpartum visits are also crucial for accessing contraception and for addressing mental health concerns.
- New moms are often managing severe sleep deprivation and maternal brain fog. "That's not just a colloquialism; that's a scientific fact that there is remodeling of the brain," van Dis says.
Reality check: There are a number of reasons moms could miss appointments, like lack of child care and transportation. Or because they think they are — or that they should be — fine.
Yes, but: 94% of pregnant patients did attend prenatal appointments, per the Cedar Gate analysis.
- Society still places "more emphasis on the health of the maternal body when she's with child, than it does on her body after she's done having that child," and new moms can internalize that, van Dis says.
What we're watching: It remains to be seen if President Trump's Medicaid cuts impede postpartum care coverage in certain states.
