Holiday effect on childbirth: A population-based analysis of 21,869,652 birth records, 1979-2018

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 19; no. 2; p. e0296403
• Main Authors: Sassa, Miho, Kinoshita, Ryo, Murano, Yayoi, Shoji, Hiromichi, Yoneoka, Daisuke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 14.02.2024; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Analysis; Biology and Life Sciences; Birth Certificates; Childbirth; Female; Holidays; Humans; Infant, Low Birth Weight; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Premature; Medical records; Medicine and Health Sciences; People and Places; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Outcome; Premature Birth - epidemiology; Research and Analysis Methods; Statistics; Japan
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0296403

Maternity and neonatal services always have to operate 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, and require well preparedness to guarantee safe deliveries for both mothers and babies. However, the evidence of holiday effect from large-scale data is still insufficient from the obstetrics perspective. We analyzed data of over 21 million births in Japan from January 1, 1979, to December 31, 2018. We revealed that the number of births is lower on holidays, and especially among high-risk births such as low birthweight and preterm births. The frequency of high-risk birth has been increasing over the study period, and the variation by the day of week and between holiday and non-holiday have become more prevalent in recent years.