AUTHOR=Rodriguez Kayla , Nudelman Matthew J. , Jegatheesan Priya , Huang Angela , Devarajan Kamakshi , Haas Jessica E. , Cervantes Rosemarie , Falbo Kelle , Narasimhan Sudha Rani , Cormier Machelnil , Stewart Mary Beth , Patel Rupalee , Govindaswami Balaji 

TITLE=Are preterm birth and very low birth weight rates altered in the early COVID (2020) SARS-CoV-2 era?

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2022.1093371

DOI=10.3389/fped.2022.1093371

ISSN=2296-2360

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objective</title><p>We evaluated the prevalence of preterm birth (PTB) and very low birth weight (VLBW) during Jan-Dec 2,020 (early COVID era) at 5 hospitals (2 in West Virginia, 3 in California) compared to Jan 2017–Dec 2019 (pre-COVID) inclusive of 2 regional perinatal centers (1 in Huntington, WV and 1 in San Jose, CA) and 3 community hospitals (1 each in Cabell, Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties).</p></sec><sec><title>Design/methods</title><p>We examined PTB and VLBW rates of live births at 5 US hospitals from Jan 2017–Dec 2020. We compared PTB and VLBW rates in 2020 to 2017–2019 using Poisson regression and rate ratio with a 95% confidence interval. We stratified live births by gestational age (GA) (&lt;37, 33–36, and &lt;33 weeks) and birth weight (≤1,500 g, &gt;1,001 g to ≤1,500 g, ≤1,000 g). We examined PTB rates at 4 of the hospitals during Jan-Dec 2020 and compared them to the prior period of Jan 2017–Dec 2019 using Statistical Process Control (SPC) for quarterly data.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>We examined PTB and VLBW rates in 34,599 consecutive live births born Jan 2017–Dec 2019 to rates of 9,691 consecutive live births in 2020. There was no significant change in PTB (&lt;37 weeks GA) rate, 10.6% in 2017–2019 vs. 11.0% in 2020 (<italic>p</italic> = 0.222). Additionally, there was no significant change when comparing VLBW rates in 2017–2019 to 2020, 1.4% in 2017–2019 vs. 1.5% in 2020 (<italic>p</italic> = 0.832).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>We found no significant change in the rates of PTB or VLBW when combining the live birth data of 5 US hospitals in 3 different counties.</p></sec>