Impact of a post-partum family planning intervention on contraception and fertility in Tanzania: two-year follow-up of a cluster-randomised controlled trial.

PURPOSE: We evaluate contraceptive use and pregnancy two years following an intervention in Tanzania, which provided antenatal post-partum family planning counselling and post-partum intrauterine device (PPIUD) services following delivery. METHODS: We analyse data from five hospitals in Tanzania using a difference-in-difference cluster randomised design, with randomisation at the hospital level. We use women-level data collected at the index birth and a follow-up survey two years later among 6,410 women. Outcomes (overall modern contraceptive use, contraceptive type, pregnancy) are modelled with an intent-to-treat (ITT) approach using linear regression. We compare with the complier average causal effect (CACE) of the intervention among those counselled. RESULTS: The intervention increased long-term PPIUD use by 5.8 percentage points (95% CI: 0.7-11.2%) through substitution away from other modern methods. There was no impact on overall modern contraceptive prevalence or pregnancy. Only 29% of women reported receiving PPIUD counselling. When accounting for this in the CACE analysis we saw a larger impact with 25.7% percentage point increase in PPIUD use (95% CI: 22.7-28.6%). CONCLUSION: The intervention provided women an additional contraceptive choice, resulting in higher use of PPIUD over two years. Increase in PPIUD use was brought about by shifting methods, not creating new modern contraceptive users.

The post-partum family planning intervention in Tanzania offered women a new contraceptive option and increased sustained use of post-partum IUD. The intervention did not attract new modern contraception users and could have a greater impact if implemented more widely.

Feasibility of an online consensus approach for the diagnosis of cognitive impairment and dementia in rural South Africa.

INTRODUCTION: We describe the development and feasibility of using an online consensus approach for diagnosing cognitive impairment and dementia in rural South Africa. METHODS: Cognitive assessments, clinical evaluations, and informant interviews from Cognition and Dementia in the Health and Aging in Africa Longitudinal Study (HAALSI Dementia) were reviewed by an expert panel using a web-based platform to assign a diagnosis of cognitively normal, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or dementia. RESULTS: Six hundred thirty-five participants were assigned a final diagnostic category, with 298 requiring adjudication conference calls. Overall agreement between each rater's independent diagnosis and final diagnosis (via the portal or consensus conference) was 78.3%. A moderate level of agreement between raters' individual ratings and the final diagnostic outcomes was observed (average κ coefficient = 0.50). DISCUSSION: Findings show initial feasibility in using an online consensus approach for the diagnosis of cognitive impairment and dementia in remote, rural, and low-resource settings.

Integrating postpartum IUD counselling and insertion into routine maternity care in Nepal: Assessing trends over time.

To meet the postpartum family planning (PPFP) needs of women in Nepal, an intervention was launched to integrate PPFP counselling and postpartum IUD (PPIUD) insertion into maternity care. Women delivering in study hospitals over a period of 18 months were interviewed at the time of delivery and at 15 months following the end of the study enrollment period to assess if the impact of the intervention observed at the end of the study was maintained. Data were collected prior to the intervention, at the middle month of the intervention roll out, at the end of the enrollment period and 15 months after the end of the enrollment period. We compared PPFP counselling and insertion rates before, during, at the end of and after the intervention study period, using cross-tabulation and chi-square tests. Overall, PPFP counselling rates increased from 11% at the baseline month to 45% at the end of the enrollment in February 2017 and remained the same 15 months later in July 2018. PPIUD uptake, however, rose from a negligible 0.1% at the baseline to 4.3% in February 2017, but declined to 3.4% in July 2018. PPIUD uptake among women who were counselled showed a similar trend, increasing from 1.9% at the baseline to 9.6% in February 2017 and declining to 6.0% in July 2018. The intervention had an appreciable continued impact on PPIUD counselling rates and although PPIUD uptake rose during the intervention, this trend was not observed in the 15 months post-study follow up. The impact of the intervention was greater and persistent in hospitals that had a longer period of exposure to intervention. The results suggest that counselling was well integrated with the maternity care, though uptake of PPIUD dropped after intervention activities such as active monitoring, technical supervision, provision of IUDs and training were withdrawn. Trial registration: This study has been registered with Clinical Trial.gov. The registration number is NCT02718222. Details about the study design have been published by Canning et al, 2016.

Exploring the Relationship between Anemia and Postpartum Depression: Evidence from Malawi.

PURPOSE: Study findings suggest association between anemia and postpartum depression, but available evidence is scant and inconsistent. We investigate whether anemia is related to postpartum depression among women who have recently given birth in Malawi, where anemia prevalence is high. METHODS: We use cross-sectional data from 829 women who were 18-36 years old, married, lived in Lilongwe, Malawi, and gave birth between August 2017 and February 2019. The primary outcome is postpartum depression in the year after birth, defined by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Anemia status was assessed using hemoglobin levels that were measured at the time of the interview. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship between postpartum depression and anemia status. RESULTS: Our analysis sample consists of 565 women who completed the PHQ-9, tested for anemia, and had no missing values for covariates. Of these women, 37.5% had anemia (hemoglobin levels ≤ 110 g/L), and 2.7% were classified as showing symptoms of a major depressive disorder (MDD). After adjusting for potential confounders, anemia was significantly associated with increased risk of MDD (OR: 3.48, 95% CI: 1.15-10.57, p-value: 0.03). No significant associations were found between other covariates and postpartum depression. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest a potential association between anemia and postpartum depression among women in Malawi. Policies that aim to improve nutrition and health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum women could generate a "double benefit" by both preventing anemia and reducing the risk of postpartum depression.

The Effect of Family Planning Counseling on Incident Pregnancy in Nepal.

An intervention aimed at institutionalizing postpartum intrauterine device (PPIUD) services was introduced in Nepal between 2015 and 2019. The intervention was evaluated using a cluster-randomized stepped-wedge trial, with data on women being collected immediately after delivery and at one- and two-year postpartum follow-ups. The sample consists of 19,155 women. We used intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis and structural equation model (SEM) to investigate how the intervention affected the occurrence of a new pregnancy (incident pregnancy). The ITT analysis showed that women in the intervention group had a reduced probability, -0.7 percentage points (95 percent CI: -3.0, 1.4), of having an incident pregnancy compared to women in the control group. The SEM analysis showed that the intervention increased the probability of receiving antenatal family planning counseling and PPIUD-specific counseling by 22.2 percentage points (95 percent CI: 20.0, 24.4) and 26.5 percentage points (95 percent CI: 24.8, 28.3), respectively. The intervention had an unintended spillover effect, increasing the probability of receiving postnatal family planning counseling by 11.4 percentage points (95 percent CI: 7.3, 15.5). In the SEM, we find the expected impact of the intervention on increased counseling and induced effects on contraceptive method initiation, lowering the probability of an incident pregnancy by 0.3 percentage points (95 percent CI: -0.5, -0.1).

The causal effect of a family planning intervention on women's contraceptive use and birth spacing.

Studies have suggested that improving access to family planning (FP) may improve contraceptive use and reduce fertility. However, high-quality evidence, particularly from randomized implementation trials, of the effect of FP programs and interventions on longer-term fertility and birth spacing is lacking. We conduct a nonblinded, randomized, controlled trial to assess the causal impact of improved access to FP on contraceptive use and pregnancy spacing in Lilongwe, Malawi. A total of 2,143 married women aged 18 to 35 who were either pregnant or had recently given birth were recruited through home visits between September 2016 and January 2017 and were randomly assigned to an intervention arm or a control arm. The intervention arm received four services over a 2-y period: 1) up to six FP counseling sessions; 2) free transportation to an FP clinic; 3) free FP services at the clinic or financial reimbursement for FP services obtained elsewhere; and 4) treatment for contraceptive-related side effects. Contraceptive use after 2 y of intervention exposure increased by 5.9 percentage points, mainly through an increased use of contraceptive implants. The intervention group's hazard of pregnancy was 43.5% lower 24 mo after the index birth. Our results highlight the positive impact of increased access to FP on a woman's contraceptive use. In addition, we show that exposure to the FP intervention led to a prolongation of birth intervals among intervention women relative to control women and increased her control over birth spacing and postpartum fertility, which, in turn, may contribute to her longer-term health and well-being.

Sleep duration, vegetable consumption and all-cause mortality among older adults in China: a 6-year prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Sleep duration and vegetable consumption are associated with mortality at old age (termed as sleep-mortality linkage and vegetable-mortality linkage, respectively). Yet, little is known about the interplay of sleep duration and vegetable consumption on mortality. METHODS: A dataset of nationwide longitudinal survey with 13,441 participants aged 65 years or older recruited in 2008 and followed up till 2014 was used. Sleep duration was classified into five groups (≤5, 6, 7-8, 9, and ≥ 10 h/day). Vegetable consumption was classified as either high frequency (eating vegetables almost daily) or low frequency. We used parametric Weibull hazard regression models to estimate associations of sleep duration and frequency of vegetable consumption with mortality, adjusting for demographics, socioeconomic factors, family/social support, health practice, and health conditions. RESULTS: Over the six-year study period, when only demographics were present, participants sleeping ≤5, 6, 9, and ≥ 10 h/day had relative hazard (RH) of mortality 1.18 (p < 0.001), 1.14(p < 0.01), 1.06 (p > 0.1), and 1.30 (p < 0.001), respectively, compared to those sleeping 7-8 h/day. The HRs were attenuated to 1.08 (p < 0.05), 1.08 (p < 0.05), 1.09 (p < 0.1), 1.18(p < 0.001), respectively, when all other covariates were additionally adjusted for. High frequency of eating vegetables was associated with 22% lower risk of mortality (RH= 0.78, p < 0.001) compared to low frequency in the demographic model, and with 9% lower risk (RH = 0.91, p < 0.05) in the full model. Subpopulation and interaction analyses show that the sleeping-mortality linkage was stronger in female, urban, oldest-old (aged ≥80), and illiterate participants compared to their respective male, rural, young-old, and literate counterparts. High frequency of vegetable intakes could offset the higher mortality risk in participants with short-sleeping duration, but low frequency of eating vegetables could exacerbate mortality risk for participants with either short or long sleep duration; and except for few cases, these findings held in subpopulations. CONCLUSIONS: Too short and too long sleep durations were associated with higher mortality risk, and infrequent vegetable consumption could exacerbate the risk, although frequent vegetable intake could offset the risk for short sleep duration. The relationship between these two lifestyles and mortality was complex and varied among subpopulations.

Does family planning counseling reduce unmet need for modern contraception among postpartum women: Evidence from a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial in Nepal.

BACKGROUND: Postpartum women have high rates of unmet need for modern contraception in the two years following birth in Nepal. We assessed whether providing contraceptive counseling during pregnancy and/or prior to discharge from the hospital for birth or after discharge from the hospital for birth was associated with reduced postpartum unmet need in Nepal. METHODS: We used data from a larger a stepped-wedge, cluster randomized trial, including contraceptive counselling in six tertiary hospitals. Group 1 hospitals (three hospitals) initiated the intervention after three months of baseline data collection, while Group 2 hospitals (three hospitals) initiated the same intervention after nine months. We have enrolled 21,280 women in the baseline interviews and conducted two follow-up interviews with them, one and two years after they had delivered in one of our study hospitals. We estimated the effect of counseling and its timing (pre-discharge, post- discharge, both, or neither) on unmet need for modern contraception in the postpartum period, using random-effects logistic regressions. RESULTS: Unmet need for modern contraception was high (54% at one year and 50% at two years). Women counseled in either the pre-discharge period (Odds ratio [OR] 0·86; 95% CI: 0·80, 0·93) or in the post-discharge period (OR 0·86; 95% CI: 0·79, 0·93) were less likely to have an unmet need in the postpartum period compared to women with no counseling. However, women who received counseling in both the pre- and post-discharge period were 27% less likely than women who had not received counseling to have unmet need (OR 0.73; 95% CI: 0·67, 0·80). CONCLUSIONS: Counseling women either before or after discharge reduces unmet need for postpartum contraception but counseling in both periods is most effective.

Assessing knowledge, attitudes, and practice of health providers towards the provision of postpartum intrauterine devices in Nepal: a two-year follow-up.

BACKGROUND: Health service providers play a key role in addressing women's need for postpartum pregnancy prevention. Yet, in Nepal, little is known about providers' knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) on providing postpartum family planning (PPFP), particularly the immediate postpartum intrauterine device (PPIUD). This paper assesses providers KAP towards the provision of PPIUDs in Nepal prior to a PPIUD intervention to gain a baseline insight and analyzes whether their KAP changes both 6 and 24 months after the start of the intervention. METHODS: Data come from a randomized trial assessing the impact of a PPIUD intervention in Nepal between 2015 and 2017. We interviewed 96 providers working in six study hospitals who completed a baseline interview and follow-up interviews at 6 and 24 months. We used descriptive analysis, McNemar's test and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test to assess KAP of providers over 2 years. RESULTS: The PPIUD KAP scores improved significantly between the baseline and 6-month follow-up. Knowledge scores increased from 2.9 out of 4 to 3.5, attitude scores increased from 4 out of 7 to 5.3, and practice scores increased from 0.9 out of 3 to 2.8. There was a significant increase in positive attitude and practice between 6 and 24 months. Knowledge on a women's chance of getting pregnant while using an IUD was poor. Attitudes on recommending a PPIUD to different women significantly improved, however, attitudes towards recommending a PPIUD to unmarried women and women who have had an ectopic pregnancy improved the least. Practice of PPIUD counseling and insertion improved significantly from baseline to 24 months, from 10.4 and 9.4% to 99% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Although KAP improved significantly among providers during the PPIUD intervention, providers' knowledge on a women's chance of getting pregnant while using an IUD and attitudes towards recommending a PPIUD to unmarried women and women who have had an ectopic pregnancy improved the least. Provider KAP could be improved further through ongoing and more in-depth training to maintain providers' knowledge, reduce provider bias and misconceptions about PPIUD eligibility, and to ensure providers understand the importance of birth spacing.

The association between age, COVID-19 symptoms, and social distancing behavior in the United States.

Background: Public health authorities recommend that people practice social distancing, especially if they have symptoms of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), or are older and more at risk of serious illness if they become infected. We test the hypothesis that these groups are following these recommendations and are more likely to undertake social distancing. Methods: We conducted an open online survey of 4,676 U.S. adults aged 18 and older between April 4 and April 7, 2020. We model the effects of age and common COVID-19 symptoms in the last two weeks on going out of the home for non-healthcare reasons the day before taking the survey, using a logistic model and the number of close contacts (within 6 feet) that respondents had with non-household members, using a Poisson count model. Our models control for several covariates, including other flu-like symptoms, sex, education, income, whether the respondent worked in February, household size, population density in the respondent's ZIP code, state fixed effects, and the day of completion of the survey. We also weight our analyses to make the sample representative of the U.S. adult population. Findings: About 52 percent of the adult United States population went out of their home the previous day. On average, adults had close contact with 1.9 non-household members. We find that having at least one COVID-19 symptom (fever, dry cough, or shortness of breath) increased the likelihood of going out the previous day and having additional close contacts with non-household members; however, the estimates were not statistically significant. When disaggregating our analysis by COVID-19 symptoms, we find no strong evidence of greater social distancing by people with a fever or cough in the last two weeks, but we do find that those who experienced shortness of breath have fewer close contacts, with an incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 0.49 (95% CI: 0.30-0.78). Having other flu-like symptoms reduces the odds of going out by 0.32 (95% CI: 0.18-0.60) and the incidence rate of having close contacts by 42 percent (IRR = 0.58; 95% CI: 0.38-0.88). We find that older people are just as likely to leave their homes as younger people, but people over the age of 50 had less than half the predicted number of close contacts than those who were younger than 30. Our approach has the limitation that the survey sample is self-selected. Our findings may therefore be subject to selection bias that is not adequately controlled for by weighting. In addition, the possibility exists of confounding of the results due to omitted variable bias. Conclusions: We provide evidence that older people are having significantly fewer close contacts than younger people, which is in line with the public health authorities' recommendations. We also find that people experiencing shortness of breath are practicing more intense social distancing. However, we find that those with two other common COVID-19 symptoms, fever and dry cough, are not engaging in greater social distancing, suggesting that increased targeting on relevant symptoms, and messaging, may be required.

Provider and Women Characteristics as Risk Factors for Postpartum Copper IUD Expulsion and Discontinuation in Nepal.

CONTEXT: Providers' and women's characteristics are associated with postpartum copper IUD (PPIUD) outcomes, but the relationship between providers' level of experience and PPIUD expulsion and discontinuation has not been established. METHODS: Data on 1,232 women and 118 providers who took part in a randomized trial of a PPIUD counselling and provision intervention in Nepal between 2015 and 2017 were used to identify associations between providers' and women's characteristics and PPIUD outcomes. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to estimate PPIUD expulsion and discontinuation risks at two years after insertion. RESULTS: Thirteen percent of women had had partial or complete expulsions and 29% had discontinued PPIUD use by two years. Having a provider who had done at least 10 previous insertions was associated with lower risk of expulsion rather than continuation (relative risk ratio, 0.5) relative to having a less-experienced provider. Women had a higher risk of both expulsion and discontinuation relative to continuation if they were younger than 21 rather than aged 26-30 (2.4 and 1.7, respectively) or if they belonged to the Dalit rather than Brahmin caste (2.2 and 1.9, respectively). Women whose husbands did not live at home also had elevated discontinuation risks. CONCLUSION: The findings highlight the need for increased training and supervision of providers during their first 10 PPIUD insertions. Counselling on risk of expulsion may especially benefit younger and Dalit women, and should include partners and other family members to avoid any stigma surrounding PPIUD use by women whose partner is away from home for a prolonged period.

RESUMEN Contexto: Las características de proveedores de servicios de salud y mujeres están asociadas con los resultados del DIU de cobre posparto (DIUPP), pero no se ha establecido la relación entre la experiencia de los proveedores de servicios de salud y la expulsión y discontinuación del DIUPP. Metodos: Se utilizaron datos de 1,232 mujeres y 118 proveedores de servicios de salud que participaron en un ensayo aleatorio de una intervención de consejería y provisión de DIUPP en Nepal entre 2015 y 2017, para identificar asociaciones entre las características de proveedores de servicios de salud y mujeres y los resultados relacionados con el DIUPP. Se utilizaron modelos de regresión logística multinomial para estimar los riesgos de expulsión y discontinuación de DIUPP dos años después de la inserción. Resultados: El 13% de las mujeres había tenido expulsiones parciales o completas y el 29% había descontinuado el uso de DIUPP a los dos años. Haber tenido un proveedor con experiencia de al menos 10 inserciones previas en comparación con un proveedor con menos experiencia se asoció con un menor riesgo de expulsión en lugar de continuación (índice de riesgo relativo 0.5). Las mujeres tuvieron un mayor riesgo tanto de expulsión como de discontinuación si eran menores de 21 años, en lugar de tener entre 26 y 30 (2.4 y 1.7, respectivamente), o si pertenecían a la casta dalit en lugar de a la casta brahmán (2.2 y 1.9, respectivamente). Las mujeres cuyos maridos no vivían en casa también tenían un riesgo elevado de discontinuación del tratamiento. Conclusión: Los hallazgos destacan la necesidad de una mayor capacitación y supervisión de los proveedores de servicios de salud durante sus primeras 10 inserciones de DIUPP. La consejería sobre el riesgo de expulsión podría beneficiar especialmente a las mujeres más jóvenes y que pertenecen a la casta dalit; y debe incluir a las parejas y otros miembros de la familia para evitar cualquier estigma en torno al uso de DIUPP por parte de las mujeres cuya pareja está fuera de casa durante un período prolongado.

RÉSUMÉN Contexte: Les caractéristiques des prestataires et des femmes sont associées aux résultats du DIU au cuivre post-partum (DIUPP), mais le rapport entre l'expérience des prestataires, l'expulsion du DIUPP et l'arrêt de la méthode n'a pas été établi. Méthodes: Les données relatives à 1 232 femmes et 118 prestataires ayant participé à un essai randomisé d'intervention de conseil et de pose d'un DIUPP au Népal entre 2015 et 2017 ont permis d'identifier les associations entre les caractéristiques des prestataires et des femmes et les résultats relatifs au DIUPP. Les risques d'expulsion du DIUPP et d'arrêt de la méthode ont été estimés à deux ans après la pose par modélisation de régression logistique multinomiale. Résultats: Treize pour cent des femmes avaient connu une expulsion partielle ou complète et 29% avaient arrêté l'utilisation du DIUPP en l'espace de de deux ans. Le fait d'avoir un prestataire ayant pratiqué au moins 10 poses antérieures s'est avéré associé à un risque moindre d'expulsion que de continuation (rapport de risque relatif de 0,5), par rapport au fait d'avoir eu un prestataire moins expérimenté. Les femmes couraient un plus grand risque d'expulsion aussi bien que d'arrêt de la méthode si elles avaient moins de 21 ans par rapport à la tranche d'âge de 26 à 30 ans (2,4 et 1,7, respectivement) ou si elles appartenaient à la caste des Dalits plutôt que des Brahmanes (2,2 et 1,9, respectivement). Les femmes dont le mari ne vivait pas sous le même toit présentaient aussi de plus hauts risques d'arrêt. Conclusion: Les résultats révèlent clairement la nécessité d'une formation et d'un encadrement accrus des prestataires lors de leurs 10 premières poses de DIUPP. Le conseil relatif au risque d'expulsion pourrait bénéficier tout particulièrement aux femmes plus jeunes et de la caste des Dalits. Il doit aussi inclure les partenaires et d'autres membres de la famille pour éviter toute stigmatisation concernant l'utilisation du DIUPP par les femmes dont le partenaire est absent pendant une période prolongée.