Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

There is a growing recognition that preconception health, that is, the health of women of reproductive age, impacts perinatal and infant outcomes. Although about 10% women of reproductive age has a disability, we know little about their preconception health. In the presentation, I will describe the preconception health characteristics of women with physical, sensory, and intellectual and developmental disabilities in Ontario. We conducted a population-based, cross-sectional study using Ontario health administrative data (2015-2016). We identified 15-44-year-old women with physical (n=254,844), sensory (n=87,639), intellectual and developmental (n=7,900), and multiple disabilities (n=27,920) and women without disabilities (n=2,303,066). Preconception health variables were social (poverty), health (chronic disease, teratogenic medication use, mental illness, history of assault), and health care factors (continuity of care). We described these characteristics using frequencies and percentages and compared women in each disability group to those without disabilities using standardized differences, wherein differences >0.10 were clinically meaningful. We found that, compared to women without disabilities, women with intellectual and developmental disabilities were more likely to live in poverty. All four disability groups were more likely to have diabetes, hypertension, and asthma and to be using teratogenic medications. They were also more likely to have a mood or anxiety disorder, and women with physical, intellectual and developmental, and multiple disabilities were more likely to have a substance use disorder and to have experienced assault. However, all four groups were more likely to routinely access the same primary care provider, indicating high continuity of care. My presentation will conclude with a discussion of future research directions and what obstetricians and gynecologists might do to help improve the preconception health of women with disabilities.