Año de publicación: 2022
Objective:
To assess, on a population basis, the medical care for pregnant women in
specific geographic regions of six countries before and during the first year of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in relationship to pregnancy outcom. Results:
Across all sites, a small but statistically significant increase in home births
occurred between the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods (18.9% versus 20.3%,
adjusted relative risk [aRR] 1.12, 95% CI 1.05–1.19). A small but significant decrease
in the mean number of antenatal care visits (from 4.1 to 4.0, p = <0.0001) was seen
during the COVID-19 period. Of outcomes evaluated, overall, a small but significant
decrease in low-birthweight infants in the COVID-19 period occurred (15.7% versus
14.6%, aRR 0.94, 95% CI 0.89–0.99), but we did not observe any significant differences in other outcomes. There was no change observed in maternal mortality or
antenatal haemorrhage overall or at any of the sites. Conclusions:
Small but significant increases in home births and decreases in the antenatal care services were observed during the initial COVID-19 period; however, there was not an increase in the stillbirth, neonatal mortality, maternal mortality, low birthweight, or preterm birth rates during the COVID-19 period compared with the previous year. Further research should help to elucidate the relationship between access to and use of pregnancy-related medical services and birth outcomes over an extended period