You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.


Advertisement

ABOUT ARCHIVES
Advanced Search

Welcome   | My Account | E-mail Alerts | RSS | Access Rights | Sign In


  Vol. 151 No. 5, May 1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Online Only
 •  Online First Table of
Contents
  ARTICLES
 •Online Features
 This Article
 •References
 •Full text PDF
 • Reply to article
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citation map
 •Citing articles on HighWire
 •Citing articles on Web of Science (21)
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Similar articles in this journal
 Social Bookmarking
  Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to Delicious Add to Digg Add to Facebook Add to Reddit Add to Technorati Add to Twitter What's this?

Factors Associated With Early Maternal Postpartum Discharge From the Hospital

Lewis H. Margolis, MD, MPH; Milton Kotelchuck, PhD, MPH; Hsing-Yi Chang, MPH

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1997;151(5):466-472.


Abstract



Objective
To examine if mothers discharged from the hospital after 1 night's stay or less (early discharge) differ from those discharged from the hospital after 2 or 3 nights' stay (regular discharge) in demographic, economic, behavioral, health status, and health services risk factors associated with maternal and infant well-being.

Design
Bivariate and logistic comparisons of women discharged from the hospital early or after a regular hospitalization as reported in the 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey.

Participants
Postpartum women.

Main Outcome Measure
Postpartum discharge from the hospital after 1 night's stay or less in the hospital.

Results
Early discharge from the hospital occurred for 12.3% of 3865366 women. Logistic regression revealed 8 factors that were associated with early discharge from the hospital: less than a high school education, aged older than 35 years, inadequate prenatal care, lack of private insurance or receipt of Medicaid for delivery, giving birth in the western United States, plans to breast-feed, and care by midwives. Two factors were associated with an increased likelihood of a regular discharge from the hospital: report of a hospitalization during pregnancy and giving birth in the Midwest or Northeast.

Conclusions
Significant numbers of mothers discharged from the hospital early manifested health and social risk factors associated with poor health outcomes. Economic factors seemed an important motivation for early discharge from the hospital, as did inadequate use of health services. Since brief hospitalization is prevalent, clinicians and administrators must assure that the objectives of medical contact during childbirth are met, if not through hospitalization, then through other mechanisms.

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1997;151:466-472



Author Affiliations



The Department of Maternal and Child Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.



Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Delicious Delicious   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Decision-Making for Postpartum Discharge of 4300 Mothers and Their Healthy Infants: The Life Around Newborn Discharge Study
Bernstein et al.
Pediatrics 2007;120:e391-e400.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Improved Access and Quality of Care After Enrollment in the New York State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
Szilagyi et al.
Pediatrics 2004;113:e395-e404.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Giving Birth, Going Home: Influences on when Low-Income Women Leave Hospital
Lichtenstein et al.
Health (London) 2004;8:81-100.
ABSTRACT  

Uninsured Children With Psychosocial Problems: Primary Care Management
McInerny et al.
Pediatrics 2000;106:930-936.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Effect of a Reduced Postpartum Length of Stay Program on Primary Care Services Use by Mothers and Infants
Mandl et al.
Pediatrics 2000;106:937-941.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Relationship Between the Timing of Maternal Postpartum Hospital Discharge and Breastfeeding
Margolis and Schwartz
J Hum Lact 2000;16:121-128.
ABSTRACT  

Evaluation of Children's Health Insurance: From New York State's Child Health Plus to SCHIP
Szilagyi et al.
Pediatrics 2000;105:687-691.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Evaluation of New York State's Child Health Plus: Methods
Szilagyi et al.
Pediatrics 2000;105:697-705.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Evaluation of a State Health Insurance Program for Low-Income Children: Implications for State Child Health Insurance Programs
Szilagyi et al.
Pediatrics 2000;105:363-371.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  





HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | CME | PHYSICIAN JOBS | SUBMIT | SUBSCRIBE | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 1997 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.