Prematurity Rates During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic Lockdown in Melbourne, Australia

Matheson, Alexia; McGannon, Claire; Malhotra, Atul; Palmer, Kirsten; Stewart, Alice; Wallace, Euan; Mol, Ben Willem J.; Hodges, Ryan; Rolnik, Daniel L.

doi:10.1097/aog.0000000000004236

Cited by 62 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Of 9123 records in the initial search, 37 articles were eligible for inclusion, of which 36 were used in the quantitative synthesis 2,6‐10,15‐44 (Figure 1). Eighteen full‐text reports were excluded: reasons for the exclusions are provided in Appendix .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID‐19 pandemic and population‐level pregnancy and neonatal outcomes: a living systematic review and meta‐analysis

Yang

D’Souza

Kharrat

et al. 2021

Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand

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Introduction: Conflicting reports of increases and decreases in rates of preterm birth (PTB) and stillbirth in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic have surfaced. The objective of our study was to conduct a living systematic review and meta-analyses of studies reporting pregnancy and neonatal outcomes by comparing the pandemic and pre-pandemic periods. Material and methods:We searched PubMed and Embase databases, reference lists of articles published up until May 14, 2021 and included English language studies that compared outcomes between the COVID-19 pandemic time period vs. pre-pandemic time periods. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. We conducted random-effects meta-analysis using the inverse variance method.Results: Thirty-seven studies with low-to-moderate risk of bias, reporting on 1,677,858 pregnancies during the pandemic period and 21,028,650 pregnancies during the pre-pandemic period, were included.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID‐19 pandemic and population‐level pregnancy and neonatal outcomes: a living systematic review and meta‐analysis

Yang

D’Souza

Kharrat

et al. 2021

Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand

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“…4 Results regarding preterm birth rates during COVID-19 lockdowns are conflicting. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] A recent meta-analysis of 40 studies from January 1, 2020 to January 8, 2021 found a reduction in the overall preterm birth rate for high income countries (12 studies) as an effect of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. 12 This reduction appeared to be driven by a reduction in spontaneous preterm birth.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What has been studied to a great extent in the past year is the effect of Covid-19 lockdowns on preterm birth rates. Previous studies have found reductions in preterm birth rates during lockdown compared to prior to lockdown in Denmark, Ireland, US and Australia, [5][6][7][8] but studies from Spain, China and US have not found such associations. [9][10][11] A recent meta-analysis found a reduction in overall preterm birth for high income countries only.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in obstetric interventions and preterm birth during COVID‐19: A nationwide study from Iceland

Einarsdóttir

Swift

Zoëga

2021

Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand

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Introduction: Previous evidence has been conflicting regarding the effect of Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns on obstetric intervention and preterm birth rates. The literature to date suggests potentially differential underlying mechanisms based on country economic setting. We aimed to study these outcomes in an Icelandic population where uniform lockdown measures were implemented across the country. Material and methods:The study included all singleton births (n=20,680) during 2016-2020 identified from the population-based Icelandic Medical Birth Register. We defined two lockdown periods during March-May and October-December in 2020 according to government implemented nationwide lockdown. We compared monthly rates of cesarean section, induction of labor and preterm birth during lockdown with the same time periods in the four years prior (2016-2019) using logit binomial regression adjusted for confounders. Results:Our results indicated a reduction in the overall cesarean section rate, which was mainly evident for elective cesarean section, both during the first (adjusted odd ratio (AOR) 0.71, 95% CI 0.51-0.99) and second (AOR 0.72, 95% CI 0.52-0.99) lockdown periods, and not for emergency cesarean section. No change during lockdown was observed in induction of labor. Our results also suggested a reduction in the overall preterm birth rate during the first lockdown (AOR 0.69, 95% CI 0.49-0.97) and in the months immediately following the lockdown (June-September) (AOR 0.67, 95% CI 0.49-0.89). The reduction during the first lockdown was mainly evident for medically indicated preterm birth (although not statistically significant) and the reduction during June-September was mainly evident for spontaneous preterm birth. Conclusions:This study suggested a reduction in elective cesarean section during Covid-19 lockdown, possibly reflecting changes in prioritization of nonurgent health care during lockdown.We also found a reduction in overall preterm birth during the first lockdown and spontaneous preterm birth following the first lockdown, but further research is needed to shed light on the underlying mechanisms for these findings.

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“…Up to date, there are few reports that investigated the association between adverse birth outcomes and city lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Matheson et al recently reported low rates of preterm births during the COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne, Australia (6). They observed lower rates of prematurity at <28, <34 and <37 weeks gestations with odds ratios of 0.46, 0.71 and 0.81, respectively, in the 2448 births during the pandemic city lockdown period of July-September 2020 when compared with the 2,514 births during July-September 2019 before pandemic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

COVID-19 Pandemic: Different Associative Relationships of City Lockdown With Preterm Births in Three Cities – An Ecological Study

2021

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In 2020, the global spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (also known as COVID-19) has led to pandemic health issues with significant changes in individual and community practices. Preterm birth could be one of the risks in pregnant mothers who are infected by the SARS-CoV-2. Preterm births contribute upto 10% of all births and incur significant impact on the child health and cost to the health care system. However, the association of city lockdown during COVID-19 pandemic with the rate of preterm births is unclear. In a cohort study, we examined the association of city lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic with the births at different gestations in three different cities. Compared with the pre-pandemic epoch, the associative relationships ranged from a decrease in all births, all births across all preterm gestations and to preterm births in moderately and late preterm gestations. We concluded that there were variable associative relationships of city lockdown during COVID-19 pandemic with preterm births. This could be related to the differences in health, societal and cultural factors, which will inspire further studies in this area.

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Prematurity Rates During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic Lockdown in Melbourne, Australia

Abstract: Low rates of preterm birth were observed during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown in Melbourne, Australia.

Cited by 62 publications

References 5 publications

COVID‐19 pandemic and population‐level pregnancy and neonatal outcomes: a living systematic review and meta‐analysis

COVID‐19 pandemic and population‐level pregnancy and neonatal outcomes: a living systematic review and meta‐analysis

Changes in obstetric interventions and preterm birth during COVID‐19: A nationwide study from Iceland

COVID-19 Pandemic: Different Associative Relationships of City Lockdown With Preterm Births in Three Cities – An Ecological Study

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