Were pregnant patients more likely to consider home birth after the pandemic compared to before?

ABSTRACT

Objective: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic affected every aspect of the pregnancy process from antepartum, labor and delivery, and postpartum. To maintain the safety of pregnant patients and healthcare providers, changes were made in the hospitals, especially at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, an epicenter of the pandemic in March 2020. This pilot study aimed to elucidate concerns of pregnant women regarding attending antepartum visits and delivering in the hospital during the pandemic. regarding antepartum visits and delivering in the hospital during the pandemic. Study Design: Telephone surveys were conducted with patients 18 years or older who were pregnant during or after the statewide lockdown beginning on March 21st, 2020. Eligible patients were identified from the University Hospital Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health database. From October 2020 through January 2021, 124 participants were contacted and 55 were successfully surveyed. Surveys assessed concerns regarding in-person appointments/delivery, potential changes in birth plan, and attitude towards home birth. Demographic information (age, race, and ethnicity) was collected. For this pilot study simple descriptive statistics were employed. Results: Our survey response rate was 55 out of 124 (44.4%). The median age was 28(IQR 24-35) and of the 55 respondents, 48(87.3%) self-identified as African American. Of the 55 respondents, 16(29.1%) reported having concerns about delivering in the hospital while 7(12.7%) reported concerns about attending prenatal visits during the pandemic. Only 8 women (14.5%) reported considering home birth prior to the shutdown. Although 29.1% reported concerns about delivering in the hospital, only 5 women (9.1%) reported that they were considering a change to their birth plan. No women reported considering changing from a hospital to home birth. Conclusion: In this pilot study, where 87% of the respondents were African American, almost 30% reported having concerns about delivering in the hospital during the pandemic but none of the respondents reported considering changing their birth plan from in-hospital to home birth. Further studies are needed to validate these findings. [Formula presented]