73% reduction in number of pre-term births. Interesting article.

[Shinygoldbauble]

www.irishtimes.com/news/health/positive-lockdown-influence-credited-with-fall-in-pre-term-births-1.4275968%3fmode=amp
A hospital in Ireland saw a 73% reduction in pre-term births in the first 4 months this year compared to previous 20 years.
It will be interesting to see if hospitals elsewhere have similar statistics.

I am currently 38 weeks pregnant. At 28 weeks I had to really fight to be seen in hospital for reduced movements and I know of others who have struggled too, thankfully it was ok.
Due to having a high risk pregnancy I was supposed to be induced a couple of weeks early but our hospital trust have changed their policy now and I will not be induced until I get to my due date. I have been told that they are not inducing anyone early unless it is an emergency. I was told they are still 'having good outcomes' with this.
Tbh this terrifies me, no one will see me in person and everything is being done over the phone until I get to 40 weeks.
There might be a reduction in preterm labour but i worry about women not having 'good outcomes' through all of this as the level of care has dropped no doubt due to staffing etc.

Another idea I thought of is maybe some cases of premature labour could be triggered by a pathogen? Either some sort of virus or bacterial we know about, or one that is generally asymptomatic and not well recognised because of that. Because transmission of all contagious pathogens should be down at the moment.

I know gum disease is associated with premature birth, but maybe something else is too

Interesting article - I assume when they talk about 'the first 4 months of the year' this is a set time period Jan-Apr, rather than this occurring evenly throughout that time period - so was this happening in Jan and early Feb before it hit us here? Would be interesting to see the actual data.

Looks like this is the pre-print paper
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.03.20121442v1

It looks as though they didn't split the data into spontaneous vs medically induced pre term birth, which makes it harder to draw any conclusions.

Wow! Hopefully that won't go hand in hand with reduced induction rate and higher mortality.

I have also wondered if health studies in years to come will reveal discrepancies between 'covid babies' (born in 2019 or early 2020) and previous years, due to potentially less air pollution, more time with both parents and siblings etc.

Obviously it could also have negative effects in terms of deprivation, but I mean the direct physical impact if you see what I mean.

I'd be very concerned if less women are being seen for reduced movements. They absolutely should be induced if clinically indicated. Midwives are still very much encouraging women to be checked as normal if they are concerned about movements. It saves lives.

I completely agree, the section with my youngest had to be brought forward due to reduced movements. I worry though that women may not be getting checked as much as they would due to worries about catching Coronavirus.