5 research outputs found
Preterm birth rates were slightly lower in Denmark during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the previous 4âyears
AIM: Our aim was to investigate the rates of preterm births, live births and stillbirths in Denmark during the first year of the COVIDâ19 pandemic. METHODS: This was a national, crossâsectional registryâbased study that used the Danish Newborn Quality database, which covers all births in Denmark. The proportions of preterm births were compared between the COVIDâ19 pandemic period of 1 March 2020 to 28 February 2021 and the preceding 4âyear preâpandemic period. RESULTS: We studied 60â323 and 244â481 newborn infants from the pandemic and preâpandemic periods, respectively. The proportion of preterm live births and stillbirths declined slightly, from 6.29% during the preâpandemic period to 6.02% during the pandemic period. This corresponded to a relative risk (RR) of 0.96, with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.93â0.99 during the pandemic. The RRs for extremely preterm, very preterm and moderately preterm infants were 0.88 (95% CI 0.76â1.02), 0.91 (95% CI 0.82â1.02) and 0.97 (95% CI 0.93â1.01), respectively. CONCLUSION: This comparative study showed a small reduction in just over 4%, from 6.29 to 6.02% in the proportion of all preterm births during the pandemic period, compared with the previous four pandemicâfree years. There were no differences between subcategories of preterm births