ArticleEuropean journal of public health2024
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.
Article in European journal of public health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Stillbirths in a large Shanghai maternity centre (2014-2024): trends, sex distribution, and gestational age-specific risk.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Seasonal Patterns of Preterm Birth During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Cohort Study in Romania.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- CMRI-detected brain injuries and clinical key risk factors associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in very preterm infants.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Trends in Preterm Births in Italy and Maternal Risk Factors in 2018-2022-A Registry-Based Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Maternal social deprivation and preterm birth: The PreCARE cohort study.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2025Article
- Maternal singing and speech have beneficial effects on preterm infant's general movements at term equivalent age and at 3 months: an RCT.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Towards a European health information system: The BRIDGE Health, InfAct and PHIRI projects.Journal of health monitoring · 2024Article
- Bridging borders: Current trends and future directions in comparative health systems research.Health services research · 2024Article
- Global, regional, and national stillbirths at 20 weeks' gestation or longer in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2021: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.Lancet (London, England) · 2024Article
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Abstract
backgroundDespite concerns about worsening pregnancy outcomes resulting from healthcare restrictions, economic difficulties and increased stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, preterm birth (PTB) rates declined in some countries in 2020, while stillbirth rates appeared stable. Like other shocks, the pandemic may have exacerbated existing socioeconomic disparities in pregnancy, but this remains to be established. Our objective was to investigate changes in PTB and stillbirth by socioeconomic status (SES) in European countries.
methodsThe Euro-Peristat network implemented this study within the Population Health Information Research Infrastructure (PHIRI) project. A common data model was developed to collect aggregated tables from routine birth data for 2015-2020. SES was based on mother's educational level or area-level deprivation/maternal occupation if education was unavailable and harmonized into low, medium and high SES. Country-specific relative risks (RRs) of PTB and stillbirth for March to December 2020, adjusted for linear trends from 2015 to 2019, by SES group were pooled using random effects meta-analysis.
resultsTwenty-one countries provided data on perinatal outcomes by SES. PTB declined by an average 4% in 2020 {pooled RR: 0.96 [95% confidence intervals (CIs): 0.94-0.97]} with similar estimates across all SES groups. Stillbirths rose by 5% [RR: 1.05 (95% CI: 0.99-1.10)], with increases of between 3 and 6% across the three SES groups, with overlapping confidence limits.
conclusionsPTB decreases were similar regardless of SES group, while stillbirth rates rose without marked differences between groups.
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