171 - Interconception Care During the COVID19 Pandemic: The success of a dyadic medical home

Poster Number: 171
Publication Number: 171.316

Hana Smith, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, CO, United States; Sarah Tillema, Children's Hospital Colorado, Debver, CO, United States; Shengh Xiong, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, United States; Bethany Ashby, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, United States; Jeanelle Sheeder, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, United States

Background: Interconception care (ICC) has been identified as a means of improving health outcomes for women, newborns, and children by mitigating maternal risks between pregnancies. Success of ICC in an adolescent mother-baby medical home is reliant on adherence to infant well-child visits (WCVs).

Objective: To determine if the COVID19 pandemic influenced outcomes of an interconception care model in an adolescent mother-baby medical home.

Design/Methods: In this study, the control group was comprised of adolescent mothers seen for routine interconception care for the initial study period: September 2018-October 2019 (n=477). The comparison group was adolescent mothers seen March 2020- March 2021 (n=215) for routine interconception care during the COVID19 pandemic. These two groups were compared across multiple characteristics including sociodemographic factors, age, education, number of completed visits, contraceptive choice and repeat pregnancy during the study interval.

Results: Groups were similar in education, age, and race/ethnicity. The table shows that during the COVID19 pandemic, adolescent mothers were significantly more likely to be primiparous, seen with a younger infant, and attend fewer visits than the group seen prior to the pandemic. During the COVID19 pandemic mothers were equally likely to initiate long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) but less likely to experience a repeat pregnancy.Conclusion(s): The COVID19 pandemic limited access to routine healthcare for many people throughout the world and thus likely impacted access to interconception care and contraception for many mothers. ICC provided during WCVs allowed access to care for adolescent mothers even amid the restrictions of the COVID19 pandemic. Both effective contraception and decreased repeat pregnancy were maintained for this at-risk population, highlighting the effectiveness of this approach for ICC.
Table 1. Comparison of participants in the pre-pandemic and pandemic groups