Disparities in Maternal Health Visits Between Rural and Urban Communities in the United States, 2016-2018

The objective was to estimate the rural-urban differences in the receipt of prepregnancy, prenatal, and postpartum services.

The authors conducted a cross-sectional data analysis using data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment and Monitoring System from 2016 to 2018 to analyze rural-urban differences in the receipt of medical visits and care content delivery during the prepregnancy year, as well as the prenatal and postpartum periods among birthing people in the US, using survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression models.

Rural-dwelling birthing people were significantly less likely to attend a medical visit in the prepregnancy year or postpartum period, even when controlled for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Compared to their urban counterparts, they were also less likely to receive comprehensive screening and counseling in the prepregnancy and postpartum maternity phases.

Efforts to ameliorate rural-urban differences in maternal care access and quality should explicitly adopt multilevel, systemic approaches to policy and program implementation and evaluation. Policymakers and practitioners should consider telehealth as a potential complementary tool to minimize gaps in quality of care which disproportionately impact rural-dwelling birthing people.