The first confinement of 2020 (from March 17 to May 10, 2020) seems to have benefited newborns since in metropolitan France, during this period the number of premature births decreased by around 6% for deliveries with a single pregnancy and birth alive, according to a study by Drees. This decline began at the beginning of March and continued for a few more weeks after the end of confinement.
However, this drop in premature births was mainly observed in the departments where covid-19 circulated the least. During the first confinement, the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 indeed varied greatly according to the departments. “The absence of a drop in areas of average or high viral circulation can be explained by a higher proportion of pregnant women affected by SARS-CoV-2 with a higher risk of premature delivery” underline the researchers. Moreover, it is mainly due at the decline of so-called “late” prematuritythat is, babies who are born at 35-36 weeks of amenorrhea.
>> A delivery is said to be premature if it occurs before 37 completed SA. There are four levels of prematurity: late prematurity (35-36 WA), moderate prematurity (32-34 WA), great prematurity (28-31 WA) and extreme prematurity (before 28 WA).
Fewer premature births elsewhere in Europe too
Already in July 2020, in two other European countries (Denmark and Ireland) two studies carried out independently of each other, one by the Statens Serum Institute Copenhagen and the other by the maternity of limerick hospital, had reached the same conclusion without consulting each other. Indeed, whether in Denmark or Ireland, the number of premature births fell significantly during this period.
For their study, the Danish researchers counted the number of births of extremely premature babies during the period from March 12 to April 14, 2020. They then compared the figures with those from the same period in the previous 5 years, from 2015 to 2019. Conclusion: very preterm births, i.e. before the 28th week of pregnancy, have decreased by 90%, from approximately 2 to 0.19 per 1000 births. On the other hand, the total number of births did not change during the confinement period.
On the Irish side, it was Dr. Roy Philip, a neonatologist at the University Maternity Hospital who looked into the birth figures when he found that he had not had to sign any order form for the milk infant care for premature babies. Looking at the numbers too, he found that over the past 20 years, babies weighing less than 1.5 kg (3.3 pounds) accounted for about 8 out of every 1,000 live births in his hospital…and four times fewer. in 2020. Research also showed that his hospital had not recorded any births of very preterm babies (those weighing less than 1 kg) while in previous years these newborns, considered the most fragile, accounted for 3 births out of 1000.
The similar findings from these two studies lead the researchers to believe that a larger study may be needed. It would make it possible to identify the risk factors for prematurity and the means of preventing it.
In video: The babies of confinement with Top Santé
Read also :
- Premature babies: focus on progress
- Premature babies: 180 babies are born too early every day in France
- Premature babies: focus on progress