To assess health service use between days 43 and 365 postdelivery, comparing individuals with and without severe maternal morbidity (SMM).

Population-based cohort study.

Linked datasets from Population Data BC in British Columbia, Canada, April 2013–March 2021.

Postpartum individuals aged >18 years with a hospital or home delivery, with/without SMM occurring from 20 weeks’ gestation through 42 days post partum. Ectopic pregnancies, missing identifiers and maternal deaths at delivery or within 42 days post partum were excluded.

The primary outcome was high health service use, defined as being in the 95th percentile for use of one or more of the following non-obstetric visits: emergency department, hospitalisations and outpatient visits to a primary care physician or specialist—each occurring between 43 and 365 days after delivery hospitalisation discharge. Secondary outcomes included being in the 95th percentile for each visit type. Log binomial regression assessed the rate and risk of high health service use in SMM compared with non-SMM pregnancies, adjusting for confounders.

The cohort included 261 287 deliveries (5575 (2.1%) with SMM). Those with >15 visits within 43–365 days postdelivery were classified as having high health service use. SMM-affected individuals were twice as likely to have high health service use (9.2% vs 4.3%; adjusted relative risk (aRR)=1.96, 95% CI 1.78 to 2.17). Individuals with non-hypertensive cardiovascular SMM had markedly higher health service use (21.4% vs 4.3%; aRR=5.18, 95% CI 3.28 to 8.16). There was heterogeneity in the association between SMM and high health service use among those without versus with previous comorbidities, without versus with high service use in the 2 years prior to delivery, and without vs with preterm birth.

Our study revealed high health service use after SMM. These findings can help guide the development of standardised postpartum care pathways.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading cause of infectious disease deaths, particularly among people living with HIV (PWH). Despite being preventable, TB preventive therapy (TPT) uptake is low in high-burden regions like South Africa, where new guidelines have expanded TPT eligibility and introduced shorter, more effective regimens like 3 months of weekly rifapentine and isoniazid (3HP). As differentiated service delivery models for HIV care have proven effective, there is increasing recognition that decentralising TPT delivery may improve coverage and completion. This study explores whether a community-based TPT delivery strategy can enhance uptake and completion of TPT compared with traditional clinic-based services.

We will conduct a household-randomised, non-blinded, controlled trial. Persons eligible for TPT will be recruited from the TB TRIAGE+Trial study, a community-based household TB screening study. Households containing at least one person eligible for TPT will be randomised 1:1 to either community-based TPT or standard-of-care clinic referral for TPT. At enrolment, all participants will be provided with a 2-week supply of TPT in the community. Participants randomised to the community arm will receive the entire course of TPT in a single dispense (12 weeks of 3HP or 6 months of isoniazid, if 3HP is contraindicated). Clinic-arm participants will be referred to their local clinic for the remainder of their course of TPT and will collect TPT refills on the clinic-determined schedule. Our primary outcome is the proportion of participants who complete a course of TPT. Secondary outcomes include overall adherence to TPT, predictors of adherence with TPT, participant satisfaction with the assigned TPT delivery method and adverse events.

The study and its tools were approved by the Human Sciences Research Councils Research Ethics Committee (approval number: 2/25/10/23), based in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa, as well as the University of Washington Institutional Review Board (Study 00018448). Study findings will be shared through the community advisory group and local stakeholder meetings, relevant international and local meetings/conferences and peer-reviewed publications.

NCT06214910. Date and version: 3.0, 30 July 2024.