INTRODUCTION There exist several barriers to maternal health service utilization in developing countries. Most of the previous studies conducted in India have focused on demand-side barriers, while only a few have touched upon supply-side barriers. None of the previous studies in India have investigated the factors that affect maternal health care utilization at health sub-centers (HSCs) in Ind...

This paper examines the patterns and determinants of maternal health care utilization across different social settings in South India: in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) carried out during 1992-93 across most states in India are used. Results show that utilization of maternal health care services is highest in Ke...

BACKGROUND Notwithstanding the significant progress in reducing maternal mortality in recent years, social inequalities in the utilization of maternal care continue to be a challenge in Bangladesh. In this study, we aim to provide a comprehensive analysis of trends in social inequalities in utilization of antenatal care (ANC), facility based delivery (FBD), and skilled birth attendance (SBA) in...

Objective. Healthcare utilization and costs associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a US Medicaid population were examined. Methods. Patients ≥ 18 years old with SLE diagnosis (ICD-9-CM 710.0x) were extracted from a large Medicaid database 2002-2009. Index date was date of the first SLE diagnosis. Patients with and without SLE were matched. All patients had a variable length of fo...

Effects of early and extended postpartum contact and paraprofessional home visits on maternal attachment, reports of child abuse and neglect, and health care utilization were determined by random assignment of 321 low-income women to intervention or control groups immediately after delivery. Observations of maternal attachment were made at four months and 12 months. Hospital, health and welfare...

BACKGROUND Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are an important measure of disease severity in terms of impaired disease progression, increased recovery time, healthcare resource utilization, overall morbidity and mortality. We aimed to quantify exacerbation and healthcare resource utilization rates among COPD patients in Sweden with respect to baseline treatments, exa...

Atrial flutter ablation is associated with a high rate of acute procedural success and symptom improvement. The relationship between ablation and other clinical outcomes has been limited to small studies primarily conducted at academic centers. We sought to determine if catheter ablation of atrial flutter is associated with reductions in healthcare utilization, atrial fibrillation, or stroke in...

INTRODUCTION Poor healthcare access is a major barrier to receiving antenatal care and a cause of high maternal mortality in South Africa (SA). 'Point-of-care' (POC) diagnostics is a powerful emerging healthcare approach to improve healthcare access. This study focuses on evaluating the accessibility and utility of POC diagnostics for maternal health in rural SA primary healthcare (PHC) clinics...

BACKGROUND Opioid use results in higher healthcare utilization and costs, particularly among those with co-occurring mental health disorders. Presumably, effective treatment would result in a reduction in healthcare utilization and costs. To date, research has not examined this question. As such, the purpose of this study was to estimate and compare pre- and post-treatment healthcare utilizatio...

To assess social inequalities in the use of antenatal care (ANC), facility based delivery (FBD), and modern contraception (MC) in two contrasting groups of countries in sub-Saharan Africa divided based on their progress towards maternal mortality reduction. Six countries were included in this study. Three countries (Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Uganda) had <350 MMR in 2010 with >4.5% average annua...