The Effect of the ARRIVE Trial and the COVID-19 Pandemic on Obstetric Practice and Racial Disparities [ID: 1380285]

INTRODUCTION: Black birthing people are at increased risk for cesarean delivery (CD) and gestational hypertension (gHTN), compared to their White counterparts. In the ARRIVE trial, labor induction at 39 weeks decreased CD and gHTN in low-risk nulliparous patients. Our aim was to determine whether racial differences in labor induction, CD or gHTN changed after ARRIVE and the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We conducted an IRB-approved, retrospective cohort study using publicly available birth certificate data from three time periods: pre-ARRIVE (January 1, 2015 to August 31, 2018), post-ARRIVE (September 1, 2018 to February 29, 2020), and post-COVID (March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020). All non-Hispanic Black (NHB) or White (NHW) nulliparous patients with a singleton gestation who delivered at more than 39 weeks of gestation with no documented high-risk conditions were included. Odds of labor induction, gHTN, and CD were compared by time period and race and ethnicity using an interrupted time series analysis adjusted for seasonality and covariates. RESULTS: There were 471,351 NHB and 2,265,018 NHW birth records included in the analysis. Post ARRIVE, the rate of labor induction increased among NHB and NHW birthing people. Non-Hispanic Black patients were less likely to be induced than their White counterparts before and after the publication of ARRIVE and COVID-19. In the adjusted ITS analysis, the odds of induction of labor (IOL) were lower while the odds of gestational hypertension and cesarean birth were higher for NHB compared to NHW in all three time periods. CONCLUSION: It is plausible that the racial difference in 39-week IOL may contribute to racial disparities in gestational hypertension and cesarean delivery. The results of the ARRIVE trial suggest that ensuring equitable access to IOL in the 39th week may be one strategy to reduce obstetric racial disparities.