Characteristic | GP appointments in the first 12 weeks post partum* | Total | % | National figures for all births for comparison (%)† | |||||
Women who had a maternal 6-week check | Women who had other GP appointments | Women who had no GP appointment | |||||||
n | % | n | % | n | % | ||||
Number of women in the sample | 21 460 | 100 | 9149 | 100 | 3728 | 100 | 34 337 | 100 | |
Maternal age, mean (95% CI) | 30.9 (30.6 to 31.2) | 30.1 (29.8 to 30.5) | 29.8 (29.5 to 30.1) | 30.6 (30.3 to 30.9) | 30.3 to 30.5 | ||||
<20 years | 440 | 2 | 295 | 3 | 125 | 3 | 860 | 3 | 3 |
20–24 years | 2403 | 11 | 1303 | 14 | 607 | 16 | 4313 | 13 | 14 |
25–29 years | 5428 | 25 | 2530 | 28 | 1040 | 28 | 8998 | 26 | 28 |
30–34 years | 7303 | 34 | 2845 | 31 | 1138 | 31 | 11 286 | 33 | 32 |
35–39 years | 4751 | 22 | 1730 | 19 | 657 | 18 | 7138 | 21 | 18 |
≥40 years | 1135 | 5 | 446 | 5 | 161 | 4 | 1742 | 5 | 4 |
Preterm birth (<37 weeks of gestation) | 1345 | 6 | 866 | 9 | 317 | 8.5 | 2528 | 7 | 8 |
Ethnic group | |||||||||
White British | 10 620 | 64 | 4683 | 68 | 1616 | 62 | 16 919 | 65 | 69 |
White Other | 2646 | 16 | 956 | 14 | 427 | 16 | 4029 | 15 | 8 |
Asian or Asian British | 1456 | 9 | 569 | 8 | 245 | 9 | 2270 | 9 | 9 |
Black or Black British | 941 | 6 | 313 | 5 | 171 | 7 | 1425 | 5 | 5 |
Mixed or Other | 880 | 5 | 342 | 5 | 159 | 6 | 1381 | 5 | 10 |
Missing | 4917 | 23 | 2286 | 25 | 1110 | 30 | 8313 | 24 | 6 |
Geographical region | |||||||||
North East, Yorkshire and Humber | 482 | 2 | 265 | 3 | 90 | 2 | 837 | 2 | 14 |
North West | 1986 | 9 | 1608 | 18 | 789 | 21 | 4383 | 13 | 13 |
Midlands | 2523 | 12 | 1191 | 13 | 404 | 11 | 4118 | 12 | 11 |
East of England | 1574 | 7 | 601 | 7 | 174 | 5 | 2349 | 7 | 11 |
South West | 2137 | 10 | 1007 | 11 | 182 | 5 | 3326 | 10 | 9 |
South Central | 3175 | 15 | 1024 | 11 | 241 | 6 | 4440 | 13 | N/A |
London | 5068 | 24 | 1560 | 17 | 731 | 20 | 7359 | 21 | 19 |
South East Coast | 4515 | 21 | 1893 | 21 | 1117 | 30 | 7525 | 22 | 15 |
Individual-level area deprivation (IMD) | |||||||||
1 (least) | 4248 | 25 | 1628 | 21 | 429 | 14 | 6305 | 23 | 15 |
2 | 3220 | 19 | 1365 | 18 | 507 | 16 | 5092 | 18 | 17 |
3 | 3218 | 19 | 1469 | 19 | 562 | 18 | 5249 | 19 | 19 |
4 | 3401 | 20 | 1575 | 21 | 768 | 25 | 5744 | 21 | 23 |
5 (most) | 3130 | 18 | 1550 | 20 | 809 | 26 | 5489 | 20 | 27 |
Missing | 4243 | 20 | 1562 | 17 | 653 | 18 | 6458 | 19 | – |
Practice-level area deprivation (IMD) | |||||||||
1 (least) | 4244 | 20 | 1264 | 14 | 276 | 7 | 5784 | 17 | 15 |
2 | 3834 | 18 | 1741 | 19 | 628 | 17 | 6203 | 18 | 17 |
3 | 4394 | 20 | 2019 | 22 | 887 | 24 | 7300 | 21 | 19 |
4 | 3659 | 17 | 1752 | 19 | 834 | 22 | 6245 | 18 | 23 |
5 (most) | 5329 | 25 | 2373 | 26 | 1103 | 30 | 8805 | 26 | 27 |
Missing | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
Proportions are presented as the % of non-missing, unless in italics, where % is of all women. North East and Yorkshire and Humber are combined due to small numbers.
*Face-to-face appointments in a GP practice.
†Comparison figures drawn from: Office for National Statistics (ONS)28 for mean maternal age in 2015–2017; ONS29 for maternal age groups in 2017 births; Draper et al30 for preterm birth in 2016; ONS15 for births by geographical area and IMD group in 2017; Li et al16 for births by maternal ethnicity (2006–2012).
CPRD, Clinical Practice Research Datalink; GP, general practitioner; IMD, Index of Multiple Deprivation; N/A, not applicable.