ReviewHealth science reports2026
Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in High-Income Countries and the Associated Maternal-Infant Health Outcomes: A Systematic Literature and Policy Review.
Review in Health science reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Foreseeing how policy impacts pregnant women and infants is limited by ethical challenges of experimental research within these groups. The COVID-19 pandemic generated natural experiments, offering rare opportunities to explore associations between specific policy responses and maternal-infant health outcomes. These insights are useful for informing policy design aligned with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Aims: To systematically review evidence of associations between COVID-19 policies, OxCGRT Stringency Index (a University of Oxford tool for comparing the stringency of policies) and maternal-infant health outcomes during pregnancy, birth, and the first 12 months postpartum from 2020-2022 in high-income countries. Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, Embase, MEDLINE, PubMed, and Web of Science were searched (January 1 2020-July 9 2022) using subject headings, keywords, and variants for "COVID-19", "policies", "perinatal", and "randomized", and "non-randomized" study designs. Eligible studies were from high-income countries, published in English, and used comparison groups. Two reviewers independently extracted and analyzed data. Heterogeneity and risk of bias made meta-analysis inappropriate. Outcomes were instead reported using tables and visuals of effect sizes, ratio estimates, and 95% confidence intervals. Results: Of 3143 citations, 35 studies met inclusion criteria. All reported high OxCGRT Stringency Index during exposure, validating the fidelity of adhering to defined policy exposure periods. Lockdown was associated with reductions in preterm and low birthweight births, infant emergency admissions, and breast feeding women, and increases in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus. Telehealth was associated with earlier gestational age at antenatal visits and less breast feeding women. Maternal mental health and stillbirth results were mixed. Conclusion: High stringency policies, including lockdowns and telehealth, were associated with both favorable and adverse maternal-infant outcomes. Findings inform avenues for future causal inference research and areas for mitigation planning should high stringency policies be reintroduced, supporting progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.