Breastfeeding practices among patients managed by a comprehensive cardio-obstetrics program.
J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med
; 36(2): 2253485, 2023 Dec.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37691234
ABSTRACT
Objective:
To evaluate breastfeeding intent, rates at discharge, and continued breastfeeding at follow-up in patients managed in a comprehensive cardio-obstetrics program stratified by severity of maternal cardiac disease.StudyDesign:
Retrospective cohort of patients managed by a comprehensive cardio-obstetrics program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Patients were included if they had ≥1 prenatal visit with the Cardio-Obstetrics team and delivered at UAB. The primary outcome was the breastfeeding rate on discharge from the delivery-associated hospitalization. Secondary outcomes included intent to breastfeed on admission and breastfeeding at the postpartum visit. Baseline characteristics and rates were compared between patients with less severe (mWHO I - II/III) vs. more severe (mWHO III - IV) maternal cardiac disease.Results:
147 patients were included 85 (57.8%) mWHO class I - II and 62 (42.2%) mWHO class III-IV. Patients with more severe maternal cardiac disease had higher rates of chronic hypertension (22.6% vs. 9.4%; p = 0.027), lower gestational age at delivery (36.4 vs 37.7 weeks; p = 0.008), and higher rates of NICU admission (31.2% vs. 14.1%; p = 0.013). There were no significant differences between mWHO class I-II vs. mWHO class III-IV in intent to breastfeed upon admission to the delivery-associated hospitalization (84.7% vs. 82.3%; p = 0.67), breastfeeding rates upon discharge from the delivery-associated hospitalization (90.6% vs. 87.1%; p = 0.50), or breastfeeding rates at the postpartum visit (54.1% vs. 48.5%; p = 0.60).Conclusions:
Despite potential barriers in this high-risk population, over 85% of patients breastfed upon discharge from the delivery-associated hospitalization. However, breastfeeding rates dropped by 40% at the postpartum visit. Strategies to support breastfeeding in the post-partum period in patients with maternal cardiac disease are imperative.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Heart Diseases
/
Obstetrics
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Pregnancy
Language:
En
Journal:
J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med
Journal subject:
OBSTETRICIA
/
PERINATOLOGIA
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Albania