Objective: To quantify the quality of life (QoL) and visit-specific satisfaction of pregnant women.
Design: A prospective cohort within a practice-based research network (PBRN). Setting/Locations: Individual chiropractic offices.
Subjects: Pregnant women (age ≥18 years) attending chiropractic care.
Intervention(s): Chiropractic care (i.e., The Webster Technique, spinal adjustments, and adjunctive therapies).
Main outcome measures: The RAND VSQ9 to measure visit-specific satisfaction and the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®)-29 to measure QoL.
Results: A convenience sample of 343 pregnant patients (average age = 30.96 years) comprised their study population. They were highly educated with 75% attaining a 2-year associate's degree or higher. The pregnant patients presented for chiropractic care with a mean week of gestation of 25.67 weeks (median = 28 weeks; range = 0-42 weeks) and parity (i.e., the number of live births) of 0.92 live births (median = 1; range = 0-6). From baseline (i.e., at study entrance with minimum first visit) and comparative (i.e., following a course of chiropractic care), the VSQ9 measurements revealed increasingly high satisfaction on the part of the subjects (i.e., the mean difference of baseline minus comparative measures = -0.7322; p < 0.005). The median number of visits (i.e., visits attended) at baseline and comparative measures was 1.00 (standard deviation [SD] = 22.69) and 3.30 (SD = 22.71), respectively. Across outcomes, QoL improved from baseline to comparative measurement after holding constant for visit number and time lapse, trimester of pregnancy, and care provider type. There was a reduction in mean T scores associated with fatigue (p < 0.05), pain interference (p < 0.05), sleep disturbance (p < 0.05), and an improvement in satisfaction with social roles (p < 0.05). A significant decrease was also found with pain interference (p < 0.05). No evidence was found that anxiety (p = 0.1404) or depression (p = 0.8785) changed.
Conclusion: A PBRN study was successfully implemented among chiropractors to find pregnant patients highly satisfied and their QoL scores improving with care beyond chance.
Keywords: PROMIS; Webster Technique; chiropractic; pregnancy; quality of life.