Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on preterm birth: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected healthcare systems and daily well-being. However, the reports of the indirect impacts of the pandemic on preterm birth remain conflicting. We performed a meta-analysis to examine whether the pandemic altered the risk of preterm birth.

Study design

This was a systematic review and meta-analysis of the previous literature.

Methods

We searched MEDLINE and Embase databases until March 2022 using appropriate keywords and extracted 63 eligible studies that compared preterm between the COVID-19 pandemic period and the prepandemic period. A random effects model was used to obtain the pooled odds of each outcome. The study protocol was registered with PROSPERO (No. CRD42022326717).

Results

The search identified

SUBMITTER: Yao XD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9579188 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature