Burgos-Ochoa L, Bertens L, Boderie N, Gravesteijn B, Obermann-Borst S, Rosman A, P.R.E.P.A.R.E.-consortium NA. “Impact of COVID-19 Mitigation Measures on Perinatal Outcomes in the Netherlands” Public Health. 2024; 236: 322–327. DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2024.09.002 Citations: 0
Abstract:
Objective: Investigate the acute impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures implemented in March 2020 on a comprehensive range of perinatal outcomes. Study design: National registry-based quasi-experimental study. Methods: We obtained data from the Dutch Perinatal Registry (2010-2020) which was linked to multiple population registries containing sociodemographic variables. A difference-in-discontinuity approach was used to examine the impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on various perinatal outcomes. We investigated preterm birth incidence across onset types, alongside other perinatal outcomes including low birth weight, small-for-gestational-age, NICU admission, low-APGAR-score, perinatal mortality, neonatal death, and stillbirths. Results: The analysis of the national-level dataset revealed a consistent pattern of reduced preterm births after the enactment of COVID-19 mitigation measures on March 9, 2020 (OR = 0.80, 95% CI 0.68-0.96). A drop in spontaneous preterm births post-implementation was observed (OR = 0.80, 95% CI 0.62-0.98), whereas no change was observed for iatrogenic births. Regarding stillbirths (OR = 0.95, 95% CI 0.46-1.95) our analysis did not find compelling evidence of substantial changes. For the remaining outcomes, no discernible shifts were observed. Conclusions: Our findings confirm the reduction in preterm births following COVID-19 mitigation measures in the Netherlands. No discernible changes were observed for other outcomes, including stillbirths. Our results challenge previous concerns of a potential increase in stillbirths contributing to the drop in preterm births, suggesting alternative mechanisms.