Evidence suggests maternal postpartum six-week checks may help to improve outcomes for postpartum women

Published on Friday, 06 June 2025 Post

New research conducted by researchers in the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Maternal and Neonatal Health and Care provides evidence that women with epilepsy (a high-risk population) are as likely as women without epilepsy to have a postpartum six-week check and this check may play a role in increasing the use of contraception and the detection or treatment of adverse health outcomes in the first year postpartum.

The study describes the prevalence of the maternal postpartum six-week check in women with and without epilepsy, and whether this check is associated with subsequent maternal health outcomes in the first year postpartum.

Using routine electronic health records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), researchers identified 23,533 births between January 1998 and March 2020 to women with epilepsy and 317,369 births over the same time period to a random sample of women without epilepsy. Among these women:

• About 2 in every 5 had no record of a maternal postpartum six-week check, but there was no evidence that women with epilepsy were more or less likely than women without epilepsy to have this check.

• The postpartum six-week check was not associated with epilepsy-relevant adverse health outcomes in the first year postpartum including any accident and emergency visits or unplanned hospital admission for epilepsy or mortality.

• Regardless of whether or not a women had epilepsy, women who did not have a maternal postpartum six-week check were less likely to subsequently be prescribed contraception. They were also less likely to have some adverse postpartum health outcomes (such as urinary and/or faecal incontinence and perineal/pelvic pain and/or painful sex) recorded in their primary care records in the first year after they had their baby. This may be because women who do not have a postpartum check are also less likely to consult their GP for health concerns. The postpartum check could be part of encouraging them to seek help from their healthcare providers, when needed.

First author, Kate Fitzpatrick, suggests that “Steps to increase the provision or uptake of the maternal six-week check may help to improve outcomes for all postpartum women by increasing the use of contraception and the detection or treatment of adverse health outcomes”.

Read the research in full in PLOS One.