Socioeconomic Inequalities Exacerbates by Mitigation Measures Against COVID-19 in the Differential Prevalence of Prematurity and Low Weight in Uruguay

An analytical observational study was carried out, comparing the semesters from March 15 to September 30, 2019 with the same period 2020, in the 2 sub sectors of public health care of the private sub sector throughout the country, taking all births in that period of time.

The semester selected is based on the fact that the first months of the pandemic were the ones with the greatest mitigation measures with drastic socio-economic consequences, but it was also a period of almost zero COVID infection in pregnancy, this being an opportune moment not to have as confounding factor to the maternal and fetal biological complications of this infection.

The situation will be analyzed in the 2 sub sectors of public health care, made up of the State Health Services Administration (ASSE), police health and military health, and the UDELAR Clinic Hospital, on the one hand, and the private sub-sector. made up of the Institutions of Collectivized Medical Assistance (IAMC) of Montevideo and the Interior (FEPREMI) and the private health care insurance.

The primary variable to be analyzed in both periods and in both subsectors of the national integrated system health was the incidence of preterm births (less than 37 weeks gestational age), low birth weight (newborns with a birth weight less than 2,500 grams) and intrauterine growth restriction (marked by doctor attending the birth, as a clinical diagnosis of the current pregnancy)

For the analysis of the national data, of the study periods, the database was requested from the Ministry of Public Health. This database is provided to researchers anonymously