Interrupted-time-series analysis of the immediate impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on preterm birth in China
Yanxia Xie, Yi Mu, Peiran Chen, Zheng Liu, Yanping Wang, Qi Li, Mingrong Li, Juan Liang, Jun Zhu
Abstract
Preliminary evidence from China and other countries has suggested that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mitigation measures have caused a decline in preterm births, but evidence is conflicting. Utilising a national representative data of 11,714,947 pregnant women in China, we explored the immediate changes in preterm birth rates during the COVID-19 mitigation period using an interrupted-time-series analysis. We defined the period prior to February 1, 2020 as the baseline, followed by the COVID-19 mitigation stage. In the first month of the COVID-19 mitigation, a significant absolute decrease in preterm birth rates of 0.68% (95%CI:-1.10% to -0.26%) in singleton, and of 2.80% (95%CI:-4.51% to -1.09%) in multiple births was noted. This immediate decline in Wuhan was greater than that at the national level among singleton births [-2.21% (95%CI:-4.09% to -0.34% vs. -0.68%)]. Here we report an immediate impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on preterm birth in China.