Unintended pregnancy and postpartum contraceptive use in women with and without chronic medical disease who experienced a live birth

Background: Maternal chronic medical disease and unintended pregnancies increase the risk of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. Little is known regarding the relationship between chronic medical disease status and pregnancy intendedness or contraceptive use.

Study design: We compared pregnancy intention and postpartum contraception use in women with and without chronic medical disease who experienced a live birth using data from the Florida Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System 2004-2005.

Results: Women aged ≥20 years with chronic medical disease were more likely to report that the index pregnancy was unintended (odds ratio [OR]=1.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.28-2.03) and reported similar postpartum contraception nonuse (OR=0.85, 95% CI 0.60-1.19) compared to those without chronic medical disease. Women aged <20 years with chronic medical disease were less likely to report that the index pregnancy was unintended (OR=0.50, 95% CI 0.28-0.88) and reported similar postpartum contraception nonuse (OR=0.99, 95% CI 0.54-1.82) compared to those without chronic medical disease.

Conclusions: In our study population, age and chronic medical disease were associated with different risks of pregnancy intention in the index pregnancy. Women with and without chronic disease in both age groups reported similar postpartum contraception use.