Dataset Information

Impact of rural Family Physician programme on maternal and child health indicators in Iran: an interrupted time series analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

The establishment of the Family Physician (FP) programme in the rural areas of Iran in 2005 has made health services accessible and affordable. This paper aims to assess the overall trends of maternal and child health (MCH) indicators in a 20-year period and possible effects of the FP programme (intervention) on these indicators in Iran.

Design and setting

An interrupted time series analysis was conducted on 20 annual MCH-related data points from 1994 to 2013. The intervention time was at the 12th data point in 2005.

Outcomes

MCH indicators were grouped into three categories: structure (mother's age, education, occupation and gravidity), process (number of antenatal care visits (ACVs), laboratory tests, ultrasounds and natural vaginal deliveries (NVDs)) and outcomes (maternal mortality ratio (MMR), neonatal mortality rate (NMR), birth weight (BW), history of abortion and/or stillbirth, and haemoglobin level (Hb)).

Results

The adjusted slope of the ACV trend decreased sharply after the intervention (b=-0.36, p<0.01), whereas it increased for the frequency of ultrasounds (b=0.2, p<0.01) and did not change for number of laboratory tests (b=-0.09, p=0.95). The intensification of the descending slope observed for NVD (b=-1.91, p=0.03) disappeared after the adjustment for structural confounders (b=1.33, p=0.26). There was no significant slope change for MMR (b=1.12, p=0.28) and NMR (b=0.67, p=0.07) after the intervention. The slope for the history of abortion trend was constant before and after the intervention, but it considerably intensified for the history of stillbirths after the intervention (b=1.72, p<0.01). The decreasing trend of BW turned into a constant mode after the intervention (b=33.2, p<0.01), but no change was observed for Hb (b=-0.02, p=0.78).

Conclusion

Although the FP programme had a positive effect on the process and proximal outcome indicators (BW), no dramatic effect on mortality outcome indicators was distinguished. It shows that there should be determinants or mediators of mortality outcomes in this setting, other than accessibility and affordability of MCH services.

SUBMITTER: Jabbari Beyrami H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6340439 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Impact of rural Family Physician programme on maternal and child health indicators in Iran: an interrupted time series analysis.

Jabbari Beyrami Hossein H Doshmangir Leila L Ahmadi Ayat A Asghari Jafarabadi Mohammad M Khedmati Morasae Esmaeil E Gordeev Vladimir S VS

BMJ open 20190115 1

<h4>Objectives</h4>The establishment of the Family Physician (FP) programme in the rural areas of Iran in 2005 has made health services accessible and affordable. This paper aims to assess the overall trends of maternal and child health (MCH) indicators in a 20-year period and possible effects of the FP programme (intervention) on these indicators in Iran.<h4>Design and setting</h4>An interrupted time series analysis was conducted on 20 annual MCH-related data points from 1994 to 2013. The inter ...[more]

PMID: 30647030

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Project description:BackgroundThe rural family physician program and social protection scheme were started in Iran about 10 years ago, and no comprehensive study has been carried out to investigate the effects of this program on mortality-related health indicators yet. The present study aims to examine the impacts of implementation of the family physician program and rural insurance program, which was launched in June 2005, on neonatal (NMR), infant (IMR), and under-5-year (U5MR) mortality rates in rural areas of Iran between 1995 and 2011, using a time-series analysis.MethodsThree segmented regression models were built to evaluate the effects of the program on NMR, IMR, and U5MR, and several independent variables were entered into the models, including annual incremental effect of the program (variable of interest), time effect, behvarz density, effect of the family physician and rural insurance programs, as well as socioeconomic variables including years of schooling, wealth index, sex ratio, and logarithmic scales of rural population size in each area. Data were gathered from secondary sources and other studies. Data pertaining to the year 2007 were excluded from the final analysis due to their inaccuracy.ResultsOur results show that the incremental effect of implementing the rural family physician program is associated with significant reductions in NMR (β = - 0.341. p - value = 0.003) and IMR (β = - 0.016. p - value = 0.009). Although the association between this effect and reductions in U5MR were evident, they were not statistically significant (β = - 0.003. p - value = 0.542). Moreover, wealth status of inhabitants was associated with reductions in NMR (β = - 0.889. p - value = 0.001), IMR (β = - 0.052. p - value < 0.001), and U5MR (β = - 0.055. p - value < 0.001) in the time period of the study.ConclusionsIn this nationally representative study, we showed that implementation of the second health system reform in Iran, known as the family physician program and social protection scheme for rural inhabitants, is associated with significant reductions in NMR and IMR. However, reported reductions in U5MR were not found to be statistically associated with the launch of the program. The advantage of this study was the ability to depict a more precise picture of the outcomes of a national-level intervention.

Project description:BackgroundIn March 2020, the government of Uganda implemented a strict lockdown policy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) was performed to assess whether major changes in outpatient attendance, malaria burden, and case management occurred after the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic in rural Uganda.MethodsIndividual level data from all outpatient visits collected from April 2017 to March 2021 at 17 facilities were analysed. Outcomes included total outpatient visits, malaria cases, non-malarial visits, proportion of patients with suspected malaria, proportion of patients tested using rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), and proportion of malaria cases prescribed artemether-lumefantrine (AL). Poisson regression with generalized estimating equations and fractional regression was used to model count and proportion outcomes, respectively. Pre-COVID trends (April 2017-March 2020) were used to predict the'expected' trend in the absence of COVID-19 introduction. Effects of COVID-19 were estimated over two six-month COVID-19 time periods (April 2020-September 2020 and October 2020-March 2021) by dividing observed values by expected values, and expressed as ratios.ResultsA total of 1,442,737 outpatient visits were recorded. Malaria was suspected in 55.3% of visits and 98.8% of these had a malaria diagnostic test performed. ITSA showed no differences between observed and expected total outpatient visits, malaria cases, non-malarial visits, or proportion of visits with suspected malaria after COVID-19 onset. However, in the second six months of the COVID-19 time period, there was a smaller mean proportion of patients tested with RDTs compared to expected (relative prevalence ratio (RPR) = 0.87, CI (0.78-0.97)) and a smaller mean proportion of malaria cases prescribed AL (RPR = 0.94, CI (0.90-0.99)).ConclusionsIn the first year after the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Uganda, there were no major effects on malaria disease burden and indicators of case management at these 17 rural health facilities, except for a modest decrease in the proportion of RDTs used for malaria diagnosis and the mean proportion of malaria cases prescribed AL in the second half of the COVID-19 pandemic year. Continued surveillance will be essential to monitor for changes in trends in malaria indicators so that Uganda can quickly and flexibly respond to challenges imposed by COVID-19.

Project description:BackgroundIn Haiti where there are high rates of maternal and neonatal mortality, efforts to reduce mortality and improve maternal newborn child health (MNCH) must be tracked and monitored to measure their success. At a rural Haitian hospital, local surveillance efforts allowed for the capture of MNCH indicators. In March 2018, a new stand-alone maternity unit was opened, with increased staff, personnel, and physical space. We aimed to determine if the new maternity unit brought about improvements in maternal and neonatal outcomes.MethodsWe conducted an interrupted time series analysis using data collected between July 2016 and October 2019 including 20 months before the opening of the maternity unit and 20 months after. We examined maternal-neonatal outcomes such as physiological (vaginal) births, caesarean birth, postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), maternal deaths, stillbirths and undesirable outcomes (eclampsia, PPH, perineal laceration, postpartum infection, maternal death or stillbirth).ResultsImmediately after the opening of the new maternity, the number of physiological births decreased by 7.0% (β = - 0.070; 95% CI: - 0.110 to - 0.029; p = 0.001) and there was an increase of 6.7% in caesarean births (β = 0.067; 95% CI: 0.026 to 0.107; p = 0.002). For all undesirable outcomes, preintervention there was an increasing trend of 1.8% (β = 0.018; 95% CI: 0.013 to 0.024; p < 0.001), an immediate 14.4% decrease after the intervention (β = - 0.144; 95% CI: - 0.255 to - 0.033; p = 0.012), and a decreasing trend of 1.8% through the postintervention period (β = - 0.018; 95% CI: - 0.026 to - 0.009; p < 0.001). No other significant level or trend changes were noted.ConclusionsThe new maternity unit led to an upward trend in caesarean births yet an overall reduction in all undesirable maternal and neonatal outcomes. The new maternity unit at this rural Haitian hospital positively impacted and improved maternal and neonatal outcomes.

Project description:Background In March 2020, the government of Uganda implemented a strict lockdown policy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We performed an interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) to assess whether major changes in healthcare seeking behavior, malaria burden, and case management occurred after the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic. Methods Individual level data from all outpatient visits occurring from April 2017 through March 2021 at 17 facilities were analyzed. Outcomes included total outpatient visits, malaria cases, non-malarial visits, proportion of visits with suspected malaria, proportion of patients tested using rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), and proportion of malaria cases prescribed artemether-lumefantrine (AL). Pre-COVID trends measured over a three-year period were extrapolated into the post-COVID period (April 2020- March 2021) using Poisson regression with generalized estimating equations or fractional regression. Effects of COVID-19 were estimated over the 12-month post-COVID period by dividing observed values by the predicted values and expressed as ratios. Results A total of 1,442,737 outpatient visits were recorded. Malaria was suspected in 55.3% of visits and 98.8% of these had a malaria diagnostic test performed. ITSA showed no differences in the observed versus predicted total outpatient visits, malaria cases, non-malarial visits, or proportion of visits with suspected malaria. However, in the second six months of the post-COVID period, there was a smaller mean proportion of patients tested with RDTs compared to predicted (Relative Prevalence Ratio (RPR) = 0.87, CI [0.78, 0.97]) and a smaller mean proportion of malaria cases prescribed AL (RPR = 0.94, CI [0.90, 0.99]. Conclusions There was evidence for a modest decrease in the proportion of RDTs used for malaria diagnosis and the proportion of patients prescribed AL in the second half of the post-COVID year, while other malaria indicators remained stable. Continued surveillance will be essential to monitor for changes in trends in malaria indicators so that Uganda can quickly and flexibly respond to challenges imposed by COVID-19.

Dataset Information

Impact of rural Family Physician programme on maternal and child health indicators in Iran: an interrupted time series analysis.

Objectives

Design and setting

Outcomes

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Impact of rural Family Physician programme on maternal and child health indicators in Iran: an interrupted time series analysis.

Similar Datasets

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