Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

Associations between childbirth and women veterans' VA and non-VA Hospitalizations for major diagnostic categories.

West AN, Lee PW. Associations between childbirth and women veterans' VA and non-VA Hospitalizations for major diagnostic categories. Military medicine. 2013 Jan 1; 178(11):1250-5.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.
   Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions



Abstract:

Women Veterans enrolled in Veterans Affairs (VA) health care almost always use non-VA hospitals for childbirth, making it more likely they will use non-VA hospitals for other needs, as well. We compared VA and non-VA hospitalizations obtained by VA enrollees in seven states from 2004 through 2007 to determine whether women aged 18 to 44 were more likely to use VA or non-VA care for diagnoses in certain major categories, and how this use differed between women who did or did not have any pregnancy/childbirth admissions during the 4 years. We found that women were hospitalized much more in non-VA than in VA hospitals, though they were relatively more likely to use VA hospitals for mental illness, digestive system diseases, and neoplasms than other diagnoses. Women who gave birth during the time interval had very few VA admissions for any diagnosis, and compared to other women they were also less likely to be hospitalized for mental health or cancer, but more likely to be hospitalized for infectious and parasitic diseases. VA hospitals were used more by women who were slightly older, sicker, poorer, and living nearer to them. VA-using women tend to have different and greater medical needs than those having children.





Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.