Nikki Stephenson, Deborah A McNeil, Kassi Prisnie, Eliana Castillo, Verena Kuret, Kara Nerenberg, Radhmila Parmar, Gary F Teare, Kristin Klein, Amy Metcalfe
{"title":"Impact of COVID-19 public health restrictions on the home birth trends in Alberta: an observational retrospective cohort study.","authors":"Nikki Stephenson, Deborah A McNeil, Kassi Prisnie, Eliana Castillo, Verena Kuret, Kara Nerenberg, Radhmila Parmar, Gary F Teare, Kristin Klein, Amy Metcalfe","doi":"10.1016/j.jogc.2025.103021","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examined the association between public health restrictions and the point prevalence of home birth in Alberta between January 1, 2017- December 31, 2021 using administrative health data. Monthly home birth prevalences were examined over the pre-pandemic (n = 161 225), pandemic (n = 77 563), and pandemic wave periods via interrupted time series analysis. Logistic regression modelling estimated the association between home birth and monthly averaged Government Response Stringency Index (GSRI). During the pandemic, home birth prevalence increased (pre-pandemic: 24.82, P < 0.001; slope: -0.02, P = 0.332; pandemic: level change:7.51, P = 006; slope change: -0.40, P = 0.006. Only the first pandemic wave found an association between GSRI and the probability of home birth (OR:1.17; 95%CI:1.03-1.33).</p>","PeriodicalId":520287,"journal":{"name":"Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology Canada : JOGC = Journal d'obstetrique et gynecologie du Canada : JOGC","volume":" ","pages":"103021"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology Canada : JOGC = Journal d'obstetrique et gynecologie du Canada : JOGC","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogc.2025.103021","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study examined the association between public health restrictions and the point prevalence of home birth in Alberta between January 1, 2017- December 31, 2021 using administrative health data. Monthly home birth prevalences were examined over the pre-pandemic (n = 161 225), pandemic (n = 77 563), and pandemic wave periods via interrupted time series analysis. Logistic regression modelling estimated the association between home birth and monthly averaged Government Response Stringency Index (GSRI). During the pandemic, home birth prevalence increased (pre-pandemic: 24.82, P < 0.001; slope: -0.02, P = 0.332; pandemic: level change:7.51, P = 006; slope change: -0.40, P = 0.006. Only the first pandemic wave found an association between GSRI and the probability of home birth (OR:1.17; 95%CI:1.03-1.33).