Details
This analysis evaluated the association between initiation of combined hormonal contraceptive (CHC) or progestin-only contraceptives (POCs) during the 6-month (183-day) postpartum period, compared with non-use of hormonal contraceptives (HC), and the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) among women with a live birth or stillbirth deliveries in the Sentinel Distributed Database (SDD).
We identified women aged ≥18 years with a first valid incident live birth or stillbirth delivery who initiated postpartum CHC or POC. Fixed 1:1 propensity score-matched analyses were conducted to compare CHC use and POC use (primary analyses), as well as their subtypes (exploratory analyses), versus non-use of HC. Additional secondary analyses compared CHC use with POC use. In addition to propensity score matching, we performed exact matching between exposed and comparator groups on the number of days postpartum at index (183 possible postpartum days) to ensure alignment of follow-up timing relative to the pregnancy outcome date.
The study period includes data from January 1, 2012, through August 31, 2025. We distributed this request to six Sentinel Data Partners on January 26, 2026.
The analytic packages associated with this analysis can be found externally in Sentinel's Git Repository located here. The Git Repository serves as Sentinel's version control tracking system for analytic packages and technical documentation.