Journal
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PEDIATRICS
Volume 181, Issue 2, Pages 859-863Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00431-021-04265-y
Keywords
Birth; COVID-19; Neonatal intensive care units; Neonatology; Patient admissions
Categories
Funding
- South-West Neonatal Network
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In recent years, there has been a downward trend in neonatal admissions in the South-West of England, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The impact of lockdown measures on perinatal outcomes may vary, warranting further investigation in the future.
The COVID-19 lockdown had a series of intended and unintended consequences, including reduced infections and changes in activities and behaviours. Some of these changes may have been beneficial to perinatal outcomes; however, other factors such as reduced access to face-to-face healthcare may have contributed negatively to antenatal care. The aim of this audit was to evaluate neonatal admissions in the South-West of England during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the previous two years 2018-2019. Anonymised birth and neonatal admission rates from January to December 2020 was obtained and compared to data from 2018 to 2019. The results demonstrate a decreasing in neonatal unit admissions between 2018 and 2020, 9.48% of live births in 2018 (95% CI 9.17, 9.80) to 8.89% (95% CI 8.65, 9.13) in 2020 (p= 0.002). Conclusion: There were no significant differences across gestational groups. It is unclear without nationwide data whether our observed trends, decreased neonatal admissions over the past 3 years, are generalisable and related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research exploring the impact of lockdowns on behaviour change during pregnancy and support services is warranted to understand the implications of pandemics on pregnancy and preterm birth.
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