BACKGROUND The maternal mortality ratio in the Philippines remains high; thus, it will be difficult to achieve the Millennium Development Goals 5 by 2015. Approximately two-thirds of all maternal deaths occur during the postpartum period. Therefore, we conducted the present study to examine the current state of postpartum health care service utilization in the Philippines, and identify challeng...

This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of conducting a randomized controlled trial of postpartum intrauterine device insertion and to demonstrate that the postpartum intrauterine device is acceptable to women. Women attending prenatal care at a maternity hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi were recruited into a trial comparing immediate (10 minutes to 48 hours) to 6 week postpartum insertion. Fe...

BACKGROUND There is a high unmet need for limiting and spacing child births during the postpartum period. Given the consequences of closely spaced births, and the benefits of longer pregnancy intervals, targeted activities are needed to reach this population of postpartum women. Our objective was to establish the determinants of contraceptive uptake among postpartum women in a county referral h...

During pregnancy a variety of immunological changes occur to accommodate the fetus. It is unknown whether these changes continue to affect humoral immunity postpartum or how quickly they resolve. IgG levels were measured to P. falciparum and P. vivax antigens in 201 postpartum and 201 controls over 12 weeks. Linear mixed-effects models assessed antibody maintenance over time and the effect of m...

BACKGROUND The pathophysiology of hypertension in the immediate postpartum period is unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 988 consecutive women admitted to a tertiary medical center for cesarean section of a singleton pregnancy. The angiogenic factors soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 and placental growth factor, both biomarkers associated with preeclampsia, were measured on antepartum bl...

BACKGROUND Violence against women in developing countries is very high with very little to choose between the cities and provinces. In Nepal too, violence against women is very rampant. This occurs despite physical violence against women being ascribed as criminal act by Domestic Violence Act. The main objective of the study was to see the association between postpartum depression and violence ...

OBJECTIVE To screen 212 women for depression symptoms during pregnancy and postpartum in Serbia. METHODS Questionnaires that covered key demographic and obstetric information and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) were administered at the third trimester of pregnancy and at 8 weeks postpartum. RESULTS In all, 21% of the sample was screened as depression positive during pregnancy. S...

BACKGROUND Young adult women find it acceptable to be offered the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine postpartum. Little is known about the practice of administering the HPV vaccine during the postpartum period. MATERIALS AND METHODS The Truven Health Analytics MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database was used to develop a cohort of privately insured 18 to 26-year-old women with un...

Background:  Postpartum thyroiditis (PPT) is an autoimmune disease that usually occurs in the first year after parturition and presents with periods of transient thyrotoxicosis and/or hypothyroidism, and in some cases results in permanent hypothyridism.Objective: To determine the prevalence of PPT in healthy postpartum women in Shiraz, southern Iran.Methods: Of 460 postpartum women from Shiraz ...