What are the health conditions and behaviours of women who regularly consult their GP across their childbearing years in Australia?

Conference:

SAPC ASM 2024 - Bristol

Talk Code:

4D.3

Presenter:

Mr Luke Dcaccia

Twitter:

@N/A

Co-authors:

Dr Elizabeth Lovegrove, Dr Danielle Schoenaker

Author institutions:

Mr Luke Dcaccia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, SO16 6YD. Dr Elizabeth Lovegrove, Primary Care Research Centre, University of Southampton, Aldermoor Health Centre, Southampton, SO16 5ST. Dr Danielle Schoenaker, School of Human Development and Health and MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton,SO16 6YD.

Problem

In recent years, there has been increasing awareness of the importance of women’s health before pregnancy (preconception health). There are a wide range of preconception risk factors that can affect women’s health and the health of their children. Health organisations and governments have started to recognise the importance of preconception health at national and global levels, which has been translated into preconception care guidelines and policies. A key recommendation is for healthcare professionals to take advantage of routine consultations with women and use these as opportunities to support women to prepare for a healthy pregnancy. General practices see women across their childbearing years (age 15-49), placing them in a prime position to implement these guidelines. Therefore, the aims of this study were to 1) describe how often women of childbearing age in Australia visit their general practitioner (GP); and 2) examine whether women’s health conditions and behaviours are associated with their frequency of attending general practice throughout their childbearing years.

Approach

This longitudinal study used data from the 1973-78 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, an ongoing nationally representative population-based cohort study. Women of childbearing age were recruited in 1996 and completed eight questionnaires from baseline (18-23) until 2018 (age 40-45). Descriptive statistics were used to describe the proportion of women who reported not consulting their GP in the past year and who consulted their GP one to two times or multiple times in the past year. Further analyses are in progress, and associations between health conditions and behaviours and frequency of consulting a GP will be examined using logistic regression.

Findings

This study includes 4,083 women who responded to all eight surveys. The proportion of women who did not consult their GP in the past year ranged from 3.5% (age 22-27) to 6.8% (age 40-45). Between 22.6% (age 22-27) and 42.1% of women (age 25-30) consulted their GP one to two times, and 53.7% (25-30) to 73.9% (age 22-27) consulted their GP three times or more in the past year. Data will also be presented on women’s preconception health conditions and behaviours and their associations with frequency of consulting a GP.

Consequences

The initial findings show a high prevalence of women of childbearing age consulting their GP at least once over the past year in this study. This provides promise when considering the opportunities for preconception care in general practice. Understanding the prevalence of women’s health conditions and behaviours, and the association with visiting a GP will inform at a deeper level how preconception care could be effectively delivered in general practice to support patients prepare for a healthy pregnancy and baby.

Submitted by:

Luke Dcaccia

Funding acknowledgement:

The research on which this abstract is based was conducted as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health by the University of Queensland and the University of Newcastle. We are grateful to the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care for funding and to the women who provided the survey data.