Background
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has had dramatic effects on the pregnant population worldwide, increasing the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes.
Objective
To assess the incidence of antepartum stillbirth (aSB) during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Austria.
Methods
We collected epidemiological data from the Austrian Birth Registry and compared the rate of aSB (i.e., fetal death at or after 24+0 gestational weeks) during the pandemic period (March–December 2020) and in the respective pre‐pandemic months (2015–2019).
Results
In total, 65 660 pregnancies were included, of which 171 resulted in aSB at 33.7 ± 4.8 gestational weeks. During the pandemic, the aSB rate increased from 2.49‰ to 2.60‰ (P = 0.601), in contrast to the significant decline in preterm deliveries at or before 37 gestational weeks from 0.61‰ to 0.56‰ (relative risk [RR] 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.91–0.96; P < 0.001). During the first lockdown, the aSB rate significantly increased from 2.38‰ to 3.52‰ (P = 0.021), yielding an adjusted odds ratio of 1.57 (95% CI 1.08–2.27; P = 0.018). The event of aSB during the COVID‐19 pandemic was strongly related with increased fetal weight and maternal obesity.
Conclusion
In Austria, there has been an overall increase in the incidence of aSB during the pandemic with a significant peak during the first lockdown.