ArticleChildren (Basel, Switzerland)2025
Trends in Preterm Births in Italy and Maternal Risk Factors in 2018-2022-A Registry-Based Study.
Article in Children (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
backgroundNationwide studies described a reduction in preterm birth (PTB) during the Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic, but this was not confirmed in others. Very few data are available on the trend of PTBs over a longer period, including the post-pandemic period, and on potential risk factors, especially those associated with social disparities.
objectiveTo investigate the trend in PTB rates and the influence of maternal risk factors in Italy from January 2018 to December 2022, based on 12 Regional Birth Registries covering 86.1% of Italian births.
methodsPTB trend was investigated by an interrupted time series analysis. We assessed the associations of potential risk factors with PTB (Poisson regressions) and calculated their population impact fractions (PIFs).
resultsWe studied 1,762,422 births; 7.25% were PTB. Before the pandemic, we observed a monthly decrease in PTB rate [-0.2% (95% CI: -0.3; -0.1)]; from July 2020 onwards, the average monthly level of PTBs was 5% lower than before (95% CI: -7.3; -2.7), with a flat trend until December 2022 [-0.02% (95% CI: -0.5; 0.5)]. Socio-economic maternal risk factors (low education, unemployment) and foreign nationality, whose risk ratios were 1.14 (95% CI: 1.04; 1.24), 1.08 (1.05; 1.12), and 1.17 (1.14; 1.21), respectively, showed a decreasing trend after pandemic; their impact on the decrease in PTBs was modest (PIFs between -2.4‱ and -4.2‱).
conclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic changed the pattern of PTB rates in Italy, lowering their average frequency and interrupting a previous decreasing trend. Changes in the trend of socio-economic maternal risk factors marginally explained this pattern.
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