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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Maternal health and prenatal care

Dual Barriers: Examining Digital Access and Travel Burdens to Hospital Maternity Care Access in the United States, 2020
Analyzes the relationship between drive time to hospital maternity units and access to digital/telehealth care in mitigating travel burden. Utilizes 2020 American Hospital Association Annual Survey data with information broken down by rural versus urban location, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and broadband and digital device access.
Author(s): Peiyin Hung, Marion Granger, Nansi Boghossian, et al.
Citation: The Milbank Quarterly, 101(4), 1327-1347
Date: 08/2023
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Changes in Policy Supports for Healthy Food Retailers, Farmers Markets, and Breastfeeding Among US Municipalities, 2014–2021: National Survey of Community-Based Policy and Environmental Supports for Healthy Eating and Active Living (CBS-HEAL)
Examines policies that support healthy food access and breastfeeding, such as tax incentives for food vendors, streamlined processes for farmers markets, breaktime for workers who pump breast milk, and more. Tracks data changes between 2014 and 2021 to examine policies in US municipalities according to rural-urban status, Census region, educational attainment, poverty, and race/ethnicity.
Author(s): Stephen J. Onufrak, Latetia V. Moore, Samantha L. Pierce, Carol A. MacGowan, Deborah A. Galuska
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 20
Date: 08/2023
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In a Maternity Desert, a New Kind of Home Visitation Program Brings Care to At-Risk Mothers
Features Project Swaddle, a community paramedic program that provides education, support, and medical care to pregnant and postpartum patients in rural Indiana.
Author(s): Gretel Kauffman
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 08/2023
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Respecting Tribal Voices in the Development of a Gestational Diabetes Risk Reduction Preconception Counseling Program for American Indian/Alaska Native Adolescent Females: A Qualitative Study
Investigates the relationship among obesity, pregnancy, and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and the impact on American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) adolescents. Provides feedback from AI/AN girls at-risk for GDM and their mothers regarding culturally relevant preconception counseling interventions.
Author(s): Kelly R. Moore, Sarah A. Stotz, Martha Ann Terry, et al.
Citation: BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 23, 552
Date: 08/2023
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Tracking The Elusive Medicaid Workforce To Improve Access
Discusses challenges to evaluating Medicaid enrollees' access to primary care providers. Describes how the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity used the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) to examine the primary care workforce providing healthcare to Medicaid enrollees. Outlines Medicaid workforce policy challenges, including federal regulations, workforce composition and supply, and community and market factors.
Author(s): Candice Chen, Qian "Eric" Luo, Mandar Bodas, et al.
Citation: Health Affairs Forefront
Date: 08/2023
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Where You Live Matters: Maternity Care Deserts and the Crisis of Access and Equity
Provides interactive state-by-state data on maternity care deserts in the U.S. Focuses on access, distance to maternity care, availability of family planning services, disparities in prenatal care, chronic health conditions and preterm birth, policy solutions, and more. Includes county-level maps of data as well as accompanying state summaries, infographics, and downloadable reports.
Date: 08/2023
Sponsoring organization: March of Dimes
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Racial and Rural-Urban Disparities in Maternal Cardiac Disease Care in North Carolina: A Call to Action
Analyzes cardiac-specific severe maternal morbidity of rural and urban, as well as Black and White, populations using data from the 2019 North Carolina State Inpatient Database. Provides statistics on delivery hospitalizations in North Carolina, including births with preexisting maternal cardiac disease, maternal cardiac disease outcomes, and patient characteristics. Discusses disparities in comorbidities, cardiac categories, and health outcomes.
Author(s): Julia M. Moyett, Linda M. Zambrano Guevara, Divya P. Mallampati, et al.
Citation: North Carolina Medical Journal, 84(4), 249-256
Date: 07/2023
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Developing a National-Scale Exposure Index for Combined Environmental Hazards and Social Stressors and Applications to the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort
Discusses the process of building an index to assess environmental hazards and social stressors on pregnancy. Utilizes factors such as pollution, lack of green space, social economic status, social vulnerability, race/ethnicity, metro versus non-metro location, and more to define exposure risk.
Author(s): Sheena E. Martenies, Mingyu Zhang, Anne E. Corrigan, et al.
Citation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(14), 6339
Date: 07/2023
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Predictive Risk Factors for Childbirth-Associated Breast Infections in the United States: A 10-Year Perspective
Analyzes factors associated with breast infections in mothers by type of infection, type of hospital admission, and associated length of stay (LOS) in hospital. Utilizes 2005-2014 National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data to examine infection according to demographic factors, comorbidities, severity of illness, and hospital location, such as teaching urban, non-teaching urban, and rural.
Author(s): Klaudia J. Koziol, Abbas Smiley, Rifat Latifi, Maria T. Castaldi
Citation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(14), 6333
Date: 07/2023
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A Multi-Year Look at Maternal Mortality in Missouri 2018-2020 Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review
Provides an overview of maternal mortality in Missouri, with a focus on maternal health, demographic disparities, context surrounding maternal mortality, and prevention strategies. Includes county-level map as well as rural versus urban comparisons of mortality rates.
Date: 07/2023
Sponsoring organization: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services
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