Social distancing and extremely preterm births in the initial COVID-19 pandemic period

• Published in: Journal of perinatology Vol. 44; no. 7; pp. 1050 - 1057
• Main Authors: Shukla, Vivek V., Carper, Benjamin A., Ambalavanan, Namasivayam, Rysavy, Matthew A., Bell, Edward F., Das, Abhik, Patel, Ravi M., D’Angio, Carl T., Watterberg, Kristi L., Cotten, C. Michael, Merhar, Stephanie L., Wyckoff, Myra H., Sánchez, Pablo J., Kumbhat, Neha, Carlo, Waldemar A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01.07.2024; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/700/1720; 692/700/478/174; Births; Correlation; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - prevention & control; Disease control; Epidemiology; Female; Gestational Age; Humans; Incidence; Infant, Extremely Premature; Infant, Newborn; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neonates; Pandemics; Pediatric Surgery; Pediatrics; Physical Distancing; Pregnancy; Premature babies; Premature birth; Premature Birth - epidemiology; Prospective Studies; SARS-CoV-2; Social distancing; Social interactions; Stillbirth - epidemiology; United States - epidemiology; United States
• ISSN: 0743-8346; 1476-5543; 1476-5543
• DOI: 10.1038/s41372-024-01898-3

Hypothesis Increased social distancing was associated with a lower incidence of extremely preterm live births (EPLB) during the initial COVID-19 pandemic period. Study design Prospective study at the NICHD Neonatal Research Network sites comparing EPLB (22 0/7 –28 6/7 weeks) and extremely preterm intrapartum stillbirths (EPIS) rates during the pandemic period (March-July, weeks 9–30 of 2020) with the reference period (same weeks in 2018 and 2019), correlating with state-specific social distancing index (SDI). Results EPLB and EPIS percentages did not significantly decrease (1.58–1.45%, p  = 0.07, and 0.08–0.06%, p  = 0.14, respectively). SDI was not significantly correlated with percent change of EPLB (CC = 0.29, 95% CI = −0.12, 0.71) or EPIS (CC = −0.23, 95% CI = −0.65, 0.18). Percent change in mean gestational age was positively correlated with SDI (CC = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.07, 0.91). Conclusions Increased social distancing was not associated with change in incidence of EPLB but was associated with a higher gestational age of extremely preterm births. ClinicalTrials.gov ID Generic Database: NCT00063063.