Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
ICES McMaster, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2024 May;38(4):291-301. doi: 10.1111/ppe.13050. Epub 2024 Feb 10.
BACKGROUND: Before the COVID-19 pandemic, access to prenatal care was lower among some socio-demographic groups. This pandemic caused disruptions to routine preventative care, which could have increased inequalities. OBJECTIVES: To investigate if the COVID-19 pandemic increased inequalities in access to prenatal care among those who are younger, live in rural areas, have a lower socio-economic situation (SES) and are recent immigrants. METHODS: We used linked administrative datasets from ICES to identify a population-based cohort of 455,245 deliveries in Ontario from January 2018 to December 2021. Our outcomes were first-trimester prenatal visits, first-trimester ultrasound and adequacy of prenatal care. We used joinpoint analysis to examine outcome time trends and identify trend change points. We stratified analyses by age, rural residence, SES and recent immigration, and examined risk differences (RD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) between groups at the beginning and end of the study period. RESULTS: For all outcomes, we noted disruptions to care beginning in March or April 2020 and returning to previous trends by November 2020. Inequalities were stable across groups, except recent immigrants. In July 2017, 65.0% and 69.8% of recent immigrants and non-immigrants, respectively, received ultrasounds in the first trimester (RD -4.8%, 95% CI -8.0, -1.5). By October 2020, this had increased to 75.4%, with no difference with non-immigrants (RD 0.4%, 95% CI -2.4, 3.2). Adequacy of prenatal care showed more intensive care as of November 2020, reflecting a higher number of visits. CONCLUSIONS: We found no evidence that inequalities between socio-economic groups that existed prior to the pandemic worsened after March 2020. The pandemic may be associated with increased access to care for recent immigrants. The introduction of virtual visits may have resulted in a higher number of prenatal care visits.
背景:在 COVID-19 大流行之前,一些社会人口群体获得产前保健的机会较低。这场大流行扰乱了常规预防保健,这可能加剧了不平等。
目的:调查 COVID-19 大流行是否增加了年轻、居住在农村地区、社会经济地位较低和新移民等人群获得产前保健的不平等。
方法:我们使用安大略省卫生局的链接行政数据集,从 2018 年 1 月至 2021 年 12 月确定了一个基于人群的 455245 例分娩队列。我们的结局是首次产前检查、首次产前超声和产前保健的充足性。我们使用连接点分析来检查结局的时间趋势,并确定趋势变化点。我们按年龄、农村居住、社会经济地位和新移民进行分层分析,并在研究期间的开始和结束时检查组间的风险差异(RD)及其 95%置信区间(CI)。
结果:对于所有结局,我们注意到 2020 年 3 月或 4 月开始出现护理中断,并于 2020 年 11 月恢复到以前的趋势。不平等在各组之间保持稳定,除了新移民。2017 年 7 月,新移民和非移民分别有 65.0%和 69.8%的人在孕早期接受超声检查(RD-4.8%,95%CI-8.0,-1.5)。到 2020 年 10 月,这一比例增加到 75.4%,与非移民无差异(RD 0.4%,95%CI-2.4,3.2)。自 2020 年 11 月以来,产前保健的充足性显示出更密集的护理,这反映了更多的就诊次数。
结论:我们没有发现大流行前存在的社会经济群体之间的不平等在 2020 年 3 月之后恶化的证据。大流行可能与新移民获得更多的医疗保健机会有关。虚拟就诊的引入可能导致更多的产前保健就诊次数。
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