Impact of COVID-19 Public Health Safety Measures on Births in Scotland between March and May 2020

Lydia Gabriela  Speyer; Louise Marryat; Bonnie Auyeung

doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2021.10.013

Impact of COVID-19 Public Health Safety Measures on Births in Scotland between March and May 2020

Lydia Gabriela Speyer (Lead / Corresponding author), Louise Marryat, Bonnie Auyeung

Health Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Short survey › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

55 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Objective: To combat the widespread transmission of COVID-19, many countries, including the United Kingdom, have imposed nationwide lockdowns. Little is known about how these public health safety measures affect pregnant mothers and their offspring. This study aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 public health safety measures on births in Scotland.

Study design: Cross-sectional study.

Methods: Using routinely collected health data on pregnancy and birth in Scotland, this study compares all births (N = 7342) between 24th March and May 2020 with births in the same period in 2018 (N = 8323) to investigate the potential negative impact of public health safety measures introduced in Scotland in spring 2020. Birth outcomes were compared using Mann-Whitney-U tests and chi-square tests.

Results: Mothers giving birth during the pandemic tended to combine breastfeeding and formula-feeding rather than exclusively breastfeed or exclusively formula-feed, stayed in hospital for fewer days, and more often had an epidural or a spinal anaesthetic compared to women giving birth in 2018.

Conclusion: Overall, results suggest little impact of public health safety measures on birth outcomes. Further research is needed to explore the longer-term impacts of being born in the pandemic on both maternal mental health and child development.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	76-79
Number of pages	4
Journal	Public Health
Volume	202
Early online date	8 Nov 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2021.10.013
Publication status	Published - Jan 2022

Keywords

COVID-19
social-distancing
pregnancy
birth outcomes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.puhe.2021.10.013Licence: Elsevier User Licence

Author Accepted ManuscriptAccepted author manuscript, 670 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Impact of COVID-19 Public Health Safety Measures on Births in Scotland between March and May 2020",

abstract = "Objective: To combat the widespread transmission of COVID-19, many countries, including the United Kingdom, have imposed nationwide lockdowns. Little is known about how these public health safety measures affect pregnant mothers and their offspring. This study aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 public health safety measures on births in Scotland.Study design: Cross-sectional study.Methods: Using routinely collected health data on pregnancy and birth in Scotland, this study compares all births (N = 7342) between 24th March and May 2020 with births in the same period in 2018 (N = 8323) to investigate the potential negative impact of public health safety measures introduced in Scotland in spring 2020. Birth outcomes were compared using Mann-Whitney-U tests and chi-square tests.Results: Mothers giving birth during the pandemic tended to combine breastfeeding and formula-feeding rather than exclusively breastfeed or exclusively formula-feed, stayed in hospital for fewer days, and more often had an epidural or a spinal anaesthetic compared to women giving birth in 2018.Conclusion: Overall, results suggest little impact of public health safety measures on birth outcomes. Further research is needed to explore the longer-term impacts of being born in the pandemic on both maternal mental health and child development.",

keywords = "COVID-19, social-distancing, pregnancy, birth outcomes",

author = "Speyer, {Lydia Gabriela} and Louise Marryat and Bonnie Auyeung",

note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the eDRIS Team (Public Health Scotland) for their involvement in obtaining approvals, provisioning and linking data and the use of the secure analytical platform within the National Safe Haven. This project was funded by the Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) initiative through the University of Edinburgh as part of their open call for COVID-19 response projects. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.",

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doi = "10.1016/j.puhe.2021.10.013",

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AU - Speyer, Lydia Gabriela

AU - Marryat, Louise

AU - Auyeung, Bonnie

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the eDRIS Team (Public Health Scotland) for their involvement in obtaining approvals, provisioning and linking data and the use of the secure analytical platform within the National Safe Haven. This project was funded by the Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) initiative through the University of Edinburgh as part of their open call for COVID-19 response projects. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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N2 - Objective: To combat the widespread transmission of COVID-19, many countries, including the United Kingdom, have imposed nationwide lockdowns. Little is known about how these public health safety measures affect pregnant mothers and their offspring. This study aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 public health safety measures on births in Scotland.Study design: Cross-sectional study.Methods: Using routinely collected health data on pregnancy and birth in Scotland, this study compares all births (N = 7342) between 24th March and May 2020 with births in the same period in 2018 (N = 8323) to investigate the potential negative impact of public health safety measures introduced in Scotland in spring 2020. Birth outcomes were compared using Mann-Whitney-U tests and chi-square tests.Results: Mothers giving birth during the pandemic tended to combine breastfeeding and formula-feeding rather than exclusively breastfeed or exclusively formula-feed, stayed in hospital for fewer days, and more often had an epidural or a spinal anaesthetic compared to women giving birth in 2018.Conclusion: Overall, results suggest little impact of public health safety measures on birth outcomes. Further research is needed to explore the longer-term impacts of being born in the pandemic on both maternal mental health and child development.

AB - Objective: To combat the widespread transmission of COVID-19, many countries, including the United Kingdom, have imposed nationwide lockdowns. Little is known about how these public health safety measures affect pregnant mothers and their offspring. This study aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 public health safety measures on births in Scotland.Study design: Cross-sectional study.Methods: Using routinely collected health data on pregnancy and birth in Scotland, this study compares all births (N = 7342) between 24th March and May 2020 with births in the same period in 2018 (N = 8323) to investigate the potential negative impact of public health safety measures introduced in Scotland in spring 2020. Birth outcomes were compared using Mann-Whitney-U tests and chi-square tests.Results: Mothers giving birth during the pandemic tended to combine breastfeeding and formula-feeding rather than exclusively breastfeed or exclusively formula-feed, stayed in hospital for fewer days, and more often had an epidural or a spinal anaesthetic compared to women giving birth in 2018.Conclusion: Overall, results suggest little impact of public health safety measures on birth outcomes. Further research is needed to explore the longer-term impacts of being born in the pandemic on both maternal mental health and child development.

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KW - social-distancing

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Impact of COVID-19 Public Health Safety Measures on Births in Scotland between March and May 2020

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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