Rachel Paul

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)/Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Safe Prevention of Primary Cesarean Delivery guidelines provide minimum time criteria at which cesarean delivery (CD) should be performed for a labor arrest disorder. We evaluated factors associated with nonadherence to these guidelines. This is a retrospective case–control study of CDs with an indication of labor arrest disorders at a single center from June 2018 to September 2021. Charts were reviewed for adherence to minimum criteria for failed induction of labor (IOL), arrest of dilation, and arrest of descent. Cases and controls were patients who underwent CD prior to (i.e., nonadherent) or after (i.e., adherent) meeting minimum criteria, respectively. Maternal, fetal, and system-level factors were compared. Of 308 primary CDs with an indication of a labor arrest disorder, 54% met minimum ACOG criteria and 46% did not. Nonadherence was less likely for provider groups with 24-hour in-house coverage (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 0.39, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.19–0.76) and in the setting of maternal obesity (aOR: 0.49, 95% CI: 0.27–0.89). Nonadherence was more likely when Category II tracing was present (aOR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.04–3.46). Nonadherence differed by type of labor arrest. Nonadherence was less likely in cases of failed IOL (aOR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.25–0.66) and was more likely in cases of arrest of descent (aOR: 4.08, 95% CI: 2.35–7.07). Multiple factors influence adherence to the ACOG guidelines for labor arrest disorders. Addressing modifiable factors may improve adherence and decrease CD rates.

Introduction: Elevating Voices, Addressing Depression, Toxic Stress and Equity (EleVATE) is a group prenatal care (GC) model designed to improve pregnancy outcomes and promote health equity for Black birthing people. This article outlines the foundational community-engaged process to develop EleVATE GC and pilot study results. Methods: We used community-based participatory research principles and the Ferguson Commission Report to guide creation of EleVATE GC. The intervention, designed by and for Black birthing people, centers trauma-informed care, antiracism, and integrates behavioral health strategies into group prenatal care to address unmet mental health needs. Using a convenience sample of patients seeking care at one of three safety-net health care sites, we compared preterm birth, small for gestational age, depression scores, and other pregnancy outcomes between patients in individual care (IC), CenteringPregnancy™ (CP), and EleVATE GC. Results: Forty-eight patients enrolled in the study (n=11 IC; n=14 CP; n=23 EleVATE GC) and 86% self-identified as Black. Patients participating in group prenatal care (EleVATE GC or CP) were significantly less likely to experience a preterm birth <34 weeks. Rates of small for gestational age, preterm birth <37 weeks, depression scores, and other pregnancy outcomes were similar across groups. Participants in CP and EleVATE GC were more likely to attend their postpartum visit and breastfeed at hospital discharge than those in IC. Discussion: Our findings model a systematic approach to design a feasible, patient-centered, community-based, trauma-informed, antiracist intervention. Further study is needed to determine whether EleVATE GC improves perinatal outcomes and promotes health equity.

Objective This study aimed to examine the association between transportation assistance and study visits, and explore differences by transportation modality. Study Design This was a secondary analysis of prospective cohort study. We identified patients requesting transportation support for research ultrasound visits and identified controls (1:2 ratio) who did not request support matched for age, race, and insurance type. Conditional logistic regression examined the association between transportation support and mode of transportation with study visit attendance. Results Transportation support was requested by 57/1,184 (4.8%) participants. Participants that requested transportation support were three times more likely to attend visits than their matched controls (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 3.16, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.76–5.68). Among visits with transportation support, those supported by a ridesharing service had five-fold higher odds of attendance than visits supported with taxi service (aOR = 5.06, 95% CI: 1.50–16.98). Conclusion Transportation support, especially a ridesharing service, is associated with improved attendance at research study visits in a sample of predominantly low-income, Black, pregnant participants. Implementing transportation support may be a promising strategy to improve engagement in research studies. Key Points

Objective To evaluate whether participation in CenteringPregnancy group prenatal care is associated with decreased risk of an interpregnancy interval (IPI) ≤6 months. Study Design We conducted a retrospective cohort study of women enrolled in Missouri Medicaid from 2007 to 2014 using maternal Medicaid data linked to infant birth certificate records. Inclusion criteria were women ≥11 years old, ≥1 viable singleton delivery during the study period, residency in St. Louis city or county, and ≥2 prenatal visits. The primary outcome was an IPI ≤6 months. Secondary outcomes included IPI ≤12 months, IPI ≤18 months, postpartum long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) uptake, and postpartum LARC or depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) uptake. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Backward stepwise logistic regression was used to adjust for potential confounders including maternal age, race, obesity, nulliparity, marital status, diabetes, hypertension, prior preterm birth, and maternal education. Results Of the 54,968 pregnancies meeting inclusion criteria, 1,550 (3%) participated in CenteringPregnancy. CenteringPregnancy participants were less likely to have an IPI ≤6 months (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 0.61; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.47–0.79) and an IPI ≤12 months (aOR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.62–0.87). However, there was no difference for an IPI ≤18 months (aOR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.77–1.13). Women in CenteringPregnancy were more likely to use LARC for postpartum contraception (aOR: 1.37; 95% CI: 1.20–1.57). Conclusion Participation in CenteringPregnancy is associated with a significant decrease in an IPI ≤6 and ≤12 months and a significant increase in postpartum LARC uptake among women enrolled in Missouri Medicaid compared with women in traditional prenatal care. Key Points

Purpose of Review In this manuscript, we present recent findings concerning concordance and discrepancy between biological measures and self-reports of these three outcomes of HIV programs: HIV status, adherence to antiretroviral medications (ARVs) and use of and adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis medication (PrEP), and condom use/unprotected sex. Recent Findings Recent studies suggest that three successive rapid HIV tests (for those whose first test in positive) might be reasonably inexpensive and valid biological data to collect to combine with self-reports of HIV status, dried blood spots sufficiently affordable to combine with self-reports of adherence to ARVs and use of or adherence to PrEP, and that the discrepancy between self-reports of condom use and biomarkers of unprotected sex may be relatively small in high-income countries. Additional work on assessment of incorrect condom usage and breakage, standardized self-report measures of condom use, and more private data collection methodologies in low-income settings might reduce the recent observed discrepancies even further. Summary Concordance between self-reports of HIV and biomarkers indicating HIV positive status has varied considerably, with much lower rates in low-income countries, where the stigma of HIV is still very high. Recommendation is for combining self-report data with the results of three successive rapid tests for those testing positive. For adherence, again agreement between self-reports and a variety of more objective and/or biological measures is only moderate. Dried blood spots (DBS) may be sufficiently inexpensive in low-resource settings that this may be the best biological method to combine with self-reports. In publications over the last 8 years, the discrepancy between self-reports of condom use and biomarkers for unprotected sex may be even lower than 20% after controlling for other features of the study, particularly in high-income countries. Our results suggest that more careful assessment of incorrect condom use and breakage as reasons other than intentional misreporting should be investigated more carefully and that more private data collection methods such as audio, computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) might be employed more often in low-resource settings to reduce this discrepancy in those settings further. In addition, further analysis of the discrepancy between self-reports of condom use and biomarkers should be conducted of published studies using the correct calculation methods to be more certain of these findings.