Associations of COVID-19 lockdown with gestational length and preterm birth in China

• Published in: BMC pregnancy and childbirth 2021-11, Vol.21 (1), p.1-14, Article 795
• Main Authors: Dong, Moran, Qian, Rui, Wang, Jiaqi, Fan, Jingjie, Ye, Yufeng, Zhou, He, Win, Brian, Reid, Eve, Zheng, Suijin, Lv, Yanyun, Pu, Yudong, Chen, Hanwei, Jin, Juan, Lin, Qingmei, Luo, Xiaoyang, Chen, Guimin, Chen, Yumeng, He, Zhongrong, He, Guanhao, Cheng, Shouzhen, Hu, Jianxiong, Xiao, Jianpeng, Ma, Wenjun, Liu, Tao, Wen, Xiaozhong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air pollution; Calendars; China; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Gestational age; Gestational length; Hypertension; Information systems; Lockdown; Multiple births; Outdoor air quality; Pandemics; Preeclampsia; Pregnancy; Pregnancy complications; Premature birth; Preterm; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Shelter in place; Stillbirth; Womens health
• ISSN: 1471-2393; 1471-2393
• DOI: 10.1186/s12884-021-04268-5

Background The effects of COVID-19 lockdown measures on maternal and fetal health remain unclear. We examined the associations of COVID-19 lockdown with gestational length and preterm birth (PTB) in a Chinese population. Methods We obtained medical records of 595,396 singleton live infants born between 2015 and 2020 in 5 cities in Guangdong Province, South China. The exposed group (N = 101,900) included women who experienced the COVID-19 Level I lockdown (1/23–2/24/2020) during pregnancy, while the unexposed group (N = 493,496) included women who were pregnant during the same calendar months in 2015–2019. Cumulative exposure was calculated based on days exposed to different levels of emergency responses with different weighting. Generalized linear regression models were applied to estimate the associations of lockdown exposure with gestational length and risk of PTB (