Indirect impact of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on pregnancy and childbirth outcomes: A nine-month long experience from a university center in Lombardy

Objective: To determine the impact on perinatal health of changes in social policies and obstetric care implemented to curb SARS-CoV-2 transmission. However, robust data on the topic are lacking since most of the studies has examined only the first few months of the outbreak. Methods: A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data on uninfected and asymptomatically infected women giving birth between March and November 2020 and in the same time frame of 2019 at our tertiary care center in Lombardy, northern Italy. Perinatal outcomes were compared according to the year (2019 versus 2020) and to the trimester (March–May, June–August, September–November) of childbirth, corresponding to the three phases of the pandemic (first wave, deceleration, second wave) and covering a 9-month period. Results: We identified increased rates of gestational diabetes mellitus, spontaneous preterm birth, and neuraxial analgesia in 2020 versus 2019, with different temporal distributions: gestational diabetes mellitus and spontaneous preterm birth were more prevalent during the deceleration and the second wave phase, whereas epidural analgesia was more prevalent during the first wave. Conclusion: By assessing a prolonged time frame of the pandemic, we show that pandemic-related control measures, as applied in Lombardy, impacted relevant perinatal outcomes of women giving birth at our center.