ArticleBJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology2022
Pregnancy outcomes in Italy during COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based cohort study.
Article in BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 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
- Parental socioeconomic composition of birth cohorts changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Trends in Preterm Births in Italy and Maternal Risk Factors in 2018-2022-A Registry-Based Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Socioeconomic disparities in changes to preterm birth and stillbirth rates during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: a study of 21 European countries.European journal of public health · 2024Article
- SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy and perinatal outcomes in Estonia in 2020 and 2021: A register-based study.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2024Article
- Infant mortality in Italy: large geographic and ethnic inequalities.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2024Article
- Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Positivity on Delivery Outcomes for Pregnant Women between 2020 and 2021: A Single-Center Population-Based Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- 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 : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2023Article
- 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
- Pregnancy outcomes in Italy during COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based cohort study.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 13 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo compare the estimates of preterm birth (PTB; 22-36 weeks gestational age, GA) and stillbirth rates during COVID-19 pandemic in Italy with those recorded in the three previous years.
designA population-based cohort study of liveborn and stillborn infants was conducted using data from Regional Health Systems and comparing the pandemic period (March 1
methodsPoisson regressions were run in each Region and meta-analyses were performed centrally. We used an interrupted time series regression analysis to study the trend of preterm births from 2017 to 2021.
main outcome measuresThe primary outcomes were PTB and stillbirths. Secondary outcomes were late PTB (32-36 weeks' GA), very PTB (<32 weeks' GA), and extremely PTB (<28 weeks' GA), overall and stratified into singleton and multiples.
resultsThe pandemic period compared with the historical one was associated with a reduced risk for PTB (Risk Ratio: 0.91; 95% Confidence Interval, CI: 0.88, 0.93), late PTB (0.91; 0.88, 0.94), very PTB (0.88; 0.84, 0.91), and extremely PTB (0.88; 0.82, 0.95). In multiples, point estimates were not very different, but had wider CIs. No association was found for stillbirths (1.01; 0.90, 1.13). A linear decreasing trend in PTB rate was present in the historical period, with a further reduction after the lockdown.
conclusionsWe demonstrated a decrease in PTB rate after the introduction of COVID-19 restriction measures, without an increase in stillbirths.
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