Abstract
BACKGROUND: Perinatal health was profoundly affected as a result of the socioeconomic hardships and public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Few studies have evaluated changes and disparities in perinatal health using population-based data and rigorous methods. OBJECTIVE: To examine changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic in perinatal health and healthcare utilisation. METHODS: Using population-based data from the 2016-2021 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (N = 116,170), we employed a Bayesian structural time-series approach to examine deviations in perinatal health and healthcare utilisation outcomes from predicted trends following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with delayed prenatal care initiation (1.1%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.2, 2.0), reduced prenatal care (-2.8%, 95% CI -3.6, -1.7), reduced postpartum visits (-1.0%, 95% CI -1.5, -0.4), and increased gestational hypertension (11.1%, 95% CI 5.4, 16.7), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), (17.6%, 95% CI 10.1, 26.2), and prenatal depression (7.3%, 95% CI 1.9, 13.0). Stratified models showed that Black participants experienced earlier prenatal care initiation; Native American participants experienced lower prenatal care visits and greater increases in gestational hypertension and GDM; Asian/Pacific Islander participants experienced delayed prenatal care initiation and heightened prenatal depression and postnatal depressive symptoms; and Hispanic participants experienced higher GWG and reduced postpartum visits. CONCLUSIONS: As perinatal health imparts enduring impacts for pregnant people and infants, this study provides insight into the pandemic's potentially long-lasting population health effects. Future work should examine longer-term trends and how pandemic-related policies contributed to disparate impacts.