Health Care Utilization After Immediate Compared With Delayed Postpartum Intrauterine Device Placement

To investigate differences in health care utilization between immediate (within 10 minutes of placental delivery) and delayed (after 24 hours) intrauterine device (IUD) placement.

This retrospective cohort study was conducted with data from Kaiser Permanente Northern California from 2017 to 2019 and included patients with an IUD placed between 0 and 63 days postpartum. The primary outcome for health care utilization was the number of obstetrician-gynecologist (ob-gyn) or women's health office visits within 1 year. Secondary outcomes included formal imaging studies, surgical intervention, and hospitalizations related to IUD complications within 1 year. An additional secondary outcome was live births at 120 days and 1 year.

Among 1,543 immediate and 10,332 delayed postpartum IUD placements, the number of visits to an ob-gyn or women's health office within 1 year was slightly increased with delayed placement (mean 2.30 vs 2.47, P <.001). Imaging was increased in the immediate compared with the delayed group (10.5% vs 4.1%, P <.001). Laparoscopy was decreased in the immediate compared with the delayed group (0.0% vs 0.4%, P =.005), with no significant difference in hysteroscopy (0.2% vs 0.1%, P =.413). Hospitalizations were rare and increased in the immediate group (0.4% vs 0.02%, P <.001). Lastly, there was no difference in repeat pregnancies between groups at 120 days (both 0.2%) or at 1 year (2.9% vs 2.5%, P =.342).

Compared with delayed placement, immediate postpartum IUD placement is not associated with increased office visits. Immediate placement is associated with an increase in imaging but a decrease in laparoscopic surgery to manage IUD-related complications. There was no difference in live birth rates at 6 months or 1 year between groups.