Change in Contraceptive Use Within South Carolina Medicaid Following the Choose Well Contraceptive Access Initiative: Did COVID-19 Alter the Trends?

Objectives: COVID-19 hit at the midpoint of Choose Well, a statewide contraceptive access initiative commenced in South Carolina (SC) in 2017. This study assessed whether the pandemic altered the trends in contraceptive use among SC Medicaid during the first half of Choose Well.

Methods: Contraception use among 333,253 women was analyzed from 2017 to 2022, divided into (January 2017-February 2020) and (March 2020-December 2022) periods.

Postpartum Insurance Loss: Predicting Factors, Associations with Postpartum Health Service Utilization, and the Role of Medicaid Expansion.

Objectives: This study investigated the predictors of postpartum insurance loss (PPIL), assessed its association with postpartum healthcare receipt, and explored the potential buffering role of Medicaid expansion.

Methods: Data from the 2016-2020 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) were analyzed, covering 197,820 individuals with live births. PPIL was determined via self-reported insurance status before and after pregnancy.

Intrauterine inflammation and postnatal intravenous dopamine alter the neurovascular unit in preterm newborn lambs.

Background: Intrauterine inflammation is considered a major cause of brain injury in preterm infants, leading to long-term neurodevelopmental deficits. A potential contributor to this brain injury is dysregulation of neurovascular coupling. We have shown that intrauterine inflammation induced by intra-amniotic lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in preterm lambs, and postnatal dopamine administration, disrupts neurovascular coupling and the functional cerebral haemodynamic responses, potentially leading to impaired brain development.

Contraceptive Method Use Among a Population-Based Cohort During the South Carolina Choose Well Initiative.

Importance: Evaluating the impact of statewide contraceptive access initiatives is necessary for informing health policy and practice.

Objective: To examine changes in contraceptive method use among a cohort of women of reproductive age in South Carolina during the Choose Well contraceptive access initiative.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this cohort study, baseline data from the initial Statewide Survey of Women administered from October 1, 2017, to April 30, 2018, to a probability-based sample of women of reproductive age in South Carolina and a peer state (Alabama) were linked with 3 follow-up surveys given in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

Contraceptive counseling, method satisfaction, and planned method continuation among women in the U.S. southeast.

Objectives: We used the validated Person-Centered Contraceptive Counseling (PCCC) scale to examine experiences with counseling and associations between counseling quality, method satisfaction, and planned method continuation at the population level in two southeastern states.

Study Design: We used data from the Statewide Survey of Women, a probability-based sample of reproductive-aged women in Alabama and South Carolina in 2017/18. We included women using a contraceptive method and reporting a contraceptive visit in the past year (n = 1265).