Only 70% of Vietnamese attend any postnatal health care and this is primarily for infant immunization.NHMRC, Học Mãi Foundatio

Dien, Trang N.

Nippita, Tanya A.

Roberts, Christine L.

Trinh, Anh T.

English

Sydney eScholarship

Postnatal care utilization by Vietnamese women  Anh T. Trinh,1 Tanya A. Nippita,2,3,4 Trang N. Dien,1 Christine L. Roberts2,3  1. Hung Vuong Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 2. Clinical and Population Perinatal Health Research, Kolling Institute, Northern Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, Australia  3. Sydney Medical School Northern, University of Sydney, Australia 4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney Australia   Synopsis: Only 70% of Vietnamese attend any postnatal health care and this is primarily for infant immunization.  Keywords: pregnancy, postpartum care, Vietnam, cohort study  The World Health Organization [1] and other international guidelines [2] stress the importance of postnatal care for all mothers and babies. Although most maternal and infant deaths occur during the postnatal period in developing countries, it is the most neglected period for quality care provision.[1]  Vietnamese clinicians report that they do not know what happens to their postnatal patients after hospital discharge and whether they seek postnatal healthcare.[3] We determined how many women were accessing postnatal healthcare in Vietnam by contacting women who participated in a study to assess perineal length (described elsewhere).[4] Briefly, 501 women were recruited in early labor and informed consent included a telephone call postpartum to assess postnatal care utilization (a secondary study aim).  A non-clinical researcher attempted to contact participants by telephone from 6 weeks postpartum with at least 4 attempts for each woman. Women were asked if they had sought healthcare since the birth of the baby, if so when and where, and whether the care was for the mother, baby or both. We did not seek information on health status.  Twenty four (4.8%) women could not be contacted, 354 (70.7%) had sought health care and 123 (24.6%) had not sought health care. Women who could not be contacted were more likely to have lower education than contactable women (14.7% vs 29.2%, p=0.05). However comparing women who did and did not seek health care, there were no statistically significant differences in maternal age, parity, education, paid employment, caesarean section, male infant, gestation at birth and birthweight (Table 1).  Of 354 women who reported at least one healthcare visit postpartum, 152 (42.9%) had a healthcare visit by 1 month postpartum, 138 (39.0%) by 2 months, 30 (8.5%) by 3 months and 34 (9.6%) could not recall when the visit had been. Visits in the first postpartum month were most frequently (82.2%) to the hospital and for maternal health (57.9%) (Table 2). Thereafter, and overall, most visits were to a health center for infant immunization.   The majority (>70%) of Vietnamese women accessed some health services postnatally. However, there is opportunity for improving postnatal care for Vietnamese women as 30% had no evidence of receiving postnatal care, and those who did were primarily for infant immunization. Integration of a maternal postnatal check at the time of infant immunization should be considered.     Acknowledgements:  A Học Mãi Foundation grant funded this research and CLR is supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Research Fellowship (#APP1021025).   References 1. World Health Organisation: WHO recommendations on postnatal care of the mother and newborn. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organisation; October 2013.  2. Haran C, van Driel M, Mitchell BL, Brodribb WE: Clinical guidelines for postpartum women and infants in primary care-a systematic review. BMC Preg Childbirth 2014, 14:51.  3. Hoc Mai Foundation: Clinical Research Training Workshops http://sydney.edu.au/global-health/news-events/2015/news2015.php. 2017.  4. Trinh AT, Nippita TA, Dien TN, Morris JM, Roberts CL: Perineal length among Vietnamese women. Taiwan J Obstet Gynecol 2017, (in press). Table 1 Maternal and pregnancy characteristics by postpartum attendance for care   Sought care N=354 n (%) Did not seek care N= 123 n (%) P value Maternal age (years) mean (SD) 27.1 (5.2) 27.8 (5.4) 0.21 Gestation (weeks) mean (SD) 38.9 (1.0) 38.9 (0.9) 0.98 Birthweight (grams) mean (SD)  3184 (362) 3182 (322) 0.96  n (%) n (%)  Nulliparous 160 (45.2) 45 (36.6) 0.09 South Vietnamese 255 (72.0) 82 (66.7) 0.26 Education   Primary school or none   Secondary/high school   Higher education    55 (15.5) 250 (70.6)   49 (13.8)  15 (12.2) 99 (80.5)   9 (  7.3)  0.08 Paid employment 259 (73.2) 94 (76.4) 0.48 Mode of delivery   Spontaneous vaginal birth   Instrumental birth   Caesarean section  302 (85.3) 24 (6.8) 28 (7.9)  100 (81.3) 13 (10.6) 10 (8.1)  0.39 Male infant  185 (52.3) 68 (55.3) 0.56  N=326* N=113*  Episiotomy 291 (89.3) 93 (82.3) 0.06 Analgesia   None   Local   Epidural/ Spinal  54 (16.6) 229 (70.3) 43 (13.2)  18 (15.9) 74 (65.5) 21 (18.6)  037 * among vaginal births Table 2: First reported postnatal visit among Vietnamese women in Ho Chi Minh City 2015   Months postpartum   Total  N= n (%)354 Place and purpose of postnatal care  1 month N=152 n (%) 2 months N=138 n (%) 3 months N=30 n (%) Timing unknown N=34 n (%) Hospital Health Center Private Clinic  125 (82.2)   23 (15.1)     4 (  2.6)   29 (21.0) 108 (78.3)     1 (  0.7)   2 (  6.7) 28 (93.3)  12 (35.3) 21 (61.8)   1 (  2.9) 168 (47.5) 180 (50.9)     6 (  1.7) Maternal health Infant Health Immunization a88 (57.9) a13 (  8.6)  55 (36.2)      6 (  4.4) 132 (95.7)   30 (100)   3 (  8.8)   2 (  5.9) 29 (85.3) a91 (25.7) a21 (  5.9) 246 (69.5) a Four women reported the visit was for both maternal and infant health   

Postnatal care utilization by Vietnamese women

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Postnatal care utilization by Vietnamese women

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