Time of leaving work pregnancy results during COVID-19 pandemic. The MOACC-19 cohort from Spain

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 23; no. 1; p. 441
• Main Authors: Llorca, Javier, Dierssen-Sotos, Trinidad, Carrasco-Marín, Eugenio, Guerra-Díez, J Lorenzo, Lechosa-Muñiz, Carolina, Paz-Zulueta, María, Gómez-Acebo, Inés, Cabero-Perez, María J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 07.03.2023; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Age; Analysis; Births; Cohort Studies; Colleges & universities; Control; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; Economic aspects; Epidemics; Female; Gestational age; Health aspects; Humans; Leave work; Leaves of absence; Low weight at birth; Maternity & paternity leaves; Medical records; Pandemics; Parturition; Pregnancy; Pregnancy control; Pregnant women; Public health; Regression analysis; Social aspects; Spain; Spain - epidemiology; Statistical analysis; Womens health; Working conditions; Spain; COVID-19; Pregnancy; Leave work; Low weight at birth; Pregnancy control
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-15357-9

COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way pregnancies have been controlled as well as working conditions. In countries with paid leave of work, leaving earlier has been a relevant measure for controlling the pandemic. No study has been published on factors associated with earlier leaving work in pregnancy and the consequences it could have on pregnancy outcomes. We aimed to identify woman and pregnancy characteristics associated with leaving work earlier and its consequences on pregnancy results. A cohort study was carried out in Cantabria, Northern Spain, including 760 women who were pregnant in 2020 and were working at the beginning of their pregnancy. Data on pregnancy characteristics and results were obtained from medical records and gestational age at leaving work was self-reported. In a logistic regression analysis, leaving work before 26th week of pregnancy was the main effect variable. Several factors were associated with lower probability of leaving work before 26th week, including university studies (OR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.36, 0.68), having presential work (OR = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.40, 0.81), women born in non-European countries (OR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.30, 1.01) and non-smokers (OR for smokers = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.12, 2.87). Neither type of delivery, gestational age at delivery nor other pregnancy results were associated with the gestational age of leaving work. Several pregnancy and women characteristics were associated with leaving work earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, although it was not associated with any pregnancy outcome.