The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs
Thursday, October 7, 2021
Dear John,
Articles in the October issue focus on the health and economic costs of perinatal mental illness.
Consequences Of Perinatal Mental Illness
Papers in the October 2021 issue discuss costs, procedures, and birth outcomes associated with perinatal mental illness.
Clare Brown and colleagues analyzed hospital data and found that people giving birth who have at least one mental health disorder are at more than 50 percent greater risk of severe maternal morbidity and incurhospitalization costs associated with delivery 9 percent higher than those with no mental health disorders.
Melissa Zochowski and coauthors examined first-time cesarean section rates among low-risk commercially insured women between 2008 and 2017. Overall cesarean rates for this population are about 25 percent, with the probability 3.5 percentage points higher, on average, among women with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders compared to those without them.
Shannon Simonovich and coauthors updated a 2010 meta-analysis and found that pregnant people with depression are 1.46 times more likely to give birth preterm and 1.90 times more likely to deliver a low-birthweight infant than people without depression.
Today on Health Affairs Blog,Arthur Robin Williams and coauthors discuss care gaps in populations with co-occurring behavioral health conditions.
Sadiq Patel and Ateev Mehrotra explain the widening disparities in mental health treatment between rural and urban Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elevating Voices: Hispanic Heritage Month: In a May 2021 paper, Jenny Guadamuz and coauthors found that, in 2015, “there were disproportionately more pharmacy deserts in Black or Hispanic/Latino neighborhoods than in White or diverse neighborhoods.” Read more here.
Check out our COVID-19 Resource Center for Health Affairs content about all things related to the pandemic.
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