The effect of COVID-19 lockdown on admission rates in Maternity Hospital

Abstract

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic had adverse health outcomes on individuals and communities. In this cross-sectional study we evaluated the admission rates in a tertiary-level hospital during the first wave of the pandemic (March 22, 2020 to August 31, 2020). Methods: We compared the indications for admission during the first wave of the pandemic to a control period prior to the lockdown (November 9, 2019 to March 22, 2020). Results: Most hospital admissions during the curfew period were obstetric emergencies (46.88%), which were significantly higher than the control group (38.19%) p ≤ 0.0001. Among the obstetric emergencies, cases in active labor (65.63%) were dominant. Significant rises in car deliveries (2.46%, p ≤ 0.0001) and admissions during the second stage of labor (6.43%, p ≤ 0.001) were noted. There was also an increased rate of admissions for early pregnancy complications, induction of labor, elective obstetric cases, and medical obstetric cases. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that lockdown precautions implemented had a significant impact on the rate of admissions to Maternity Hospital. The data obtained may be a used to aid in designing robust policies for future pandemics to avoid adverse health outcomes.