In a recent study published in Communications Medicine , researchers examined the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the incidence of low birth weight (LBW) in India. Study: Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on low birth weight in a nationwide study in India . Image Credit: Zetar Infinity/Shutterstock.
com The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted essential maternal and neonatal health services worldwide, leading to a decline in facility-based births and an increase in home births. Globally, one in four newborns has LBW, with 95% of such births occurring in middle- and low-income countries. LBW infants are likely to have developmental delays, behavioral issues, and cognitive impairment.
In the present study, researchers evaluated whether birth outcomes were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. They used data from the Indian National Family Health Survey between 2019 and 2021. The sample included nearly 636,700 households from all districts in the country.
The first phase of the survey was conducted from June 17, 2019, to January 30, 2020. The second phase was conducted between January 2, 2020, and April 30, 2021. The primary outcomes were birth weight and LBW.
Children born in April 2020 or later were included in the pandemic cohort, and those born before 2020 formed the pre-pandemic cohort. Births between January and March 2020 were excluded from the primary analysis. Pregnancy data were available for 232,920 children.
Those with missing bir.