ArticleCureus2021
Prevalence of Preterm Birth Rate During COVID-19 Lockdown in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Riyadh.
Article in Cureus, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association of COVID-19 lockdowns with adverse birth and pregnancy outcomes in 28 high-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Nature human behaviour · 2025Pooled it
- Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on preterm birth: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Public health · 2022Pooled it
- 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 obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2022Pooled it
- Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in general population: A living systematic review and meta-analysis (updated Aug 14, 2021).Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2022Pooled it
- The impact of COVID-19 first wave national lockdowns on perinatal outcomes: a rapid review and meta-analysis.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Pooled it
- Association between COVID-19 outbreak and preterm birth rates in a low-infection cohort from a tertiary Shanghai maternity center: a retrospective study.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- Review
- Population-Level Study on Fetal Deaths and Preterm Births during SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in the State of Michigan.American journal of perinatology · 2024Article
- Impact of the First and Second Lockdown for COVID-19 Pandemic on Preterm Birth, Low Birth Weight, Stillbirth, Mode of Labor, and of Delivery in Lombardy, Italy.Journal of personalized medicine · 2023Article
- The impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions on premature births during the COVID-19 pandemic: a nationwide observational study in Korea.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2023Article
- An evaluation of the association between lockdown during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and prematurity at the Nice University Hospital.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2023Article
- The COVID-19 pandemic and birth outcomes in 2020: The role of prenatal care and other channels.Economics and human biology · 2022Article
- Interrupted-time-series analysis of the immediate impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on preterm birth in China.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Impact of the 1st Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdown on In Utero Transfer Activity in the Paris Area, France.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Association between COVID-19 mandatory lockdown and decreased incidence of preterm births and neonatal mortality.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background On March 3, 2020, the first case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was reported by the Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Within days, the government confirmed more cases and adopted lockdown measures with travel restrictions from March to June 2020. A distinctive coronavirus was isolated from 190,823 patients by June 30. The pandemic resulted in a significant risk to public health. The study aimed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on the rate of premature births. Method In this cross-sectional study, we observed premature births at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The study site is a 1,500-bed teaching hospital, with around 4,500 annual deliveries, 70 beds in level II and level III, and tertiary care NICU. We compared the birth rates among preterm infants between March 1 to June 30, 2017-2019, to the similar calendar months of 2020. Information on nationality, gestational age, and maternal conditions were collected from the medical records. We used the Poisson regression model to assess the preterm birth rate's temporal trends before lockdown versus during lockdown. Results Among 7,226 total live neonates, we recorded 1,320 preterm infants during the study period of 2017-2020. The preterm birth rate per 1,000 live births during lockdown showed a 23% drop in the overall preterm birth rate with Prevented Fraction of 36% in extremely preterm (<28 weeks gestational age) births and 26% in moderate/late premature (32 weeks to 36 weeks + 6 days gestational age) births. The estimated preterm birth rate among the Saudi expats (15.11/1,000 live births) showed an increased tendency compared to Saudi nationals (odds ratio [OR]=1.07; 95% CI: 0.75-1.52) and was statistically not significant during the strict lockdown. Conclusion There was a significant reduction in the birth rate of extremely preterm and moderate/late preterm infants during lockdown when compared to the preceding three years. A national dataset is required to evaluate the extent of lockdown's impact on the preterm birth rate.
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