Did changes in conception rates alone account for the decline in preterm births during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mother and Child Health, Azienda USL Toscana Nord Ovest, Pisa, Italy.
² Unit of Epidemiology, Regional Health Agency of Tuscany, Florence, Italy.
³ Centre for Behavioural Sciences and Mental Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology and Care Intelligence, Regional Agency for Health and Social Affair of Puglia, Bari, Italy.
⁵ Department of Public Health and Paediatric Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
⁶ Unit of Clinical Governance, Azienda USL - IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.
⁷ Pianificazione, Programmazione e Controllo Direzionale, Azienda Regionale di Coordinamento della Salute, Udine, Italy.
⁸ Welfare General Directorate, Milan, Italy.
⁹ Birth Registry, Coordinating Centre for Rare Diseases, Veneto Region, Padua, Italy.
¹⁰ Area rete ospedaliera, Lazio Regional Authority, Rome, Italy.
¹¹ Department of Clinical and Evaluative Epidemiology, Health Service of Trento, Trento, Italy.
¹² Department of Maternal and Child Health, General Directorate for Health Campania Region, Naples, Italy.
¹³ Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation, National Research Council, Palermo, Italy.
¹⁴ Department of Health Activities and Epidemiological Observatory, Regional Health Authority, Sicilian Region, Palermo, Italy.

Luigi Gagliardi et al. BJOG. 2023.

. 2023 Sep 3.

doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.17658. Online ahead of print.

¹ Department of Mother and Child Health, Azienda USL Toscana Nord Ovest, Pisa, Italy.
² Unit of Epidemiology, Regional Health Agency of Tuscany, Florence, Italy.
³ Centre for Behavioural Sciences and Mental Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology and Care Intelligence, Regional Agency for Health and Social Affair of Puglia, Bari, Italy.
⁵ Department of Public Health and Paediatric Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
⁶ Unit of Clinical Governance, Azienda USL - IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.
⁷ Pianificazione, Programmazione e Controllo Direzionale, Azienda Regionale di Coordinamento della Salute, Udine, Italy.
⁸ Welfare General Directorate, Milan, Italy.
⁹ Birth Registry, Coordinating Centre for Rare Diseases, Veneto Region, Padua, Italy.
¹⁰ Area rete ospedaliera, Lazio Regional Authority, Rome, Italy.
¹¹ Department of Clinical and Evaluative Epidemiology, Health Service of Trento, Trento, Italy.
¹² Department of Maternal and Child Health, General Directorate for Health Campania Region, Naples, Italy.
¹³ Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation, National Research Council, Palermo, Italy.
¹⁴ Department of Health Activities and Epidemiological Observatory, Regional Health Authority, Sicilian Region, Palermo, Italy.

No abstract available

References

1. Fallesen P, Oberndorfer M, Cozzani M. Changes in conception rates, not in pregnancy-related behaviour, likely caused decline in preterm births during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. BJOG. 2023;130:1153-1155. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.17568
1. Rusconi F, Puglia M, Pacifici M, Brescianini S, Gagliardi L, Nannavecchia AM, et al. Pregnancy outcomes in Italy during COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based cohort study. BJOG. 2023;130(3):276-284.
1. Yang J, D'Souza R, Kharrat A, Fell DB, Snelgrove JW, Shah PS. COVID-19 pandemic and population-level pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in general population: a living systematic review and meta-analysis (Update#2: November 20, 2021). Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2022;101(3):273-292.
1. Ministero della Salute. Relazione del Ministro della salute al parlamento sullo stato di attuazione della legge contenente norme in materia di procreazione medicalmente assistita. Attività anno 2020 centri procreazione medicalmente assistita. Roma, Settembre 2022. [cited 2023 June 30]. Available from: www.salute.gov.it/portale/news/p3_2_1_1_1.jsp?lingua=italiano&menu=n...