Associations between Postpartum Contraceptive Counseling and Birth Control Use: Findings from the Los Angeles Mommy and Baby (LAMB) Survey

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between postpartum contraceptive counseling and birth control use. METHODS: We used data from the 2007 LAMB survey, a population-based, mail sample survey with telephone follow-up for non-respondents based on a multistage clustered design. Analyses were based on weighted responses of 6264 women with live births. Women were asked if a doctor or nurse spoke to them about birth control use during their postpartum checkup and if they were currently “doing anything to keep from getting pregnant”. Associations between postpartum contraceptive counseling and birth control use were examined using Pearson's chi square tests. RESULTS: Eighty-nine percent of women were asked about contraception during the postpartum visit and 77% were attempting to prevent pregnancy. Women who received postpartum contraceptive counseling were twice as likely to use birth control (OR 2.03, p<0.01). Of the racial/ethnic categories considered, Asian/Pacific Islanders were less likely to be counseled about contraceptive use postpartum (OR 0.50, p<0.01) and African American women were less likely to use birth control (OR 0.75, p<0.01) when compared to white women. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that providers are addressing contraception during postpartum visits. Postpartum contraceptive counseling is strongly associated with birth control use. However, racial/ethnic disparities exist in postpartum contraceptive counseling and birth control use.