Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ASCO Annual Meeting 2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Keep up to date with all the top stories and latest evidence with our hub page, including official congress videos and expert takeaways.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Health Services Research
Published in: BMC Health Services Research 1/2023

Open Access 01-12-2023 | COVID-19 | Research

The impact of COVID-19-related restrictions on pregnancy and abortion rates in the Republic of Georgia

Authors: Nia Khachidze, Tinatin Manjavidze, Erik Eik Anda, Ingvild Hersoug Nedberg, Ingvild Fossgard Sandøy, Charlotta Rylander

Published in: BMC Health Services Research | Issue 1/2023

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

The Republic of Georgia implemented COVID-19-related restrictions starting on 31 March 2020, when it imposed a 1-month strict lockdown, after which the country continued with some form of restrictions for 1 year. These restrictions created barriers to healthcare access, affected healthcare services, caused severe economic degradation, and changed reproductive behavior. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of COVID-19-related restrictions on pregnancy and abortion rates in Georgia.

Methods

Information on pregnancy, abortion, and related variables was extracted from the Georgian Birth Registry from January 2018 through April 2022. The final study sample included 232,594 pregnancies and 86,729 abortions. We used interrupted time series analysis to study the impact of COVID-19-related restrictions.

Results

There were slightly decreasing trends in pregnancy and abortion rates in the pre-pandemic period (1 January 2018-31 March 2020). During the 1-month strict lockdown (1 April-30 April 2020), pregnancy and abortion rates decreased in all investigated age groups. There were no substantial differences in pregnancy or abortion rates in the pandemic period (for pregnancies: 1 April 2020-30 June 2021; for abortions: 1 April 2020-30 April 2022) compared to the pre-pandemic period. The precision of all estimates suggested that both small increases and decreases in pregnancy and abortion rates are reasonably compatible with our data.

Conclusions

Despite the 1-year-long COVID-19-related restrictions, our results did not indicate substantial long-term changes in pregnancy or abortion rates during the study period for any age group. This may indicate that the restrictions did not substantially influence access to contraception, abortion services, or reproductive behavior.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Stanton T, Bateson D. Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on family planning services. Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2021;33(5):425–30.CrossRefPubMed
2.
Banke-Thomas A, Yaya S. Looking ahead in the COVID-19 pandemic: emerging lessons learned for sexual and reproductive health services in low- and middle-income countries. Reproductive Health. 2021;18(1):248.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
3.
Kumar N. COVID 19 era: a beginning of upsurge in unwanted pregnancies, unmet need for contraception and other women related issues. Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care. 2020;25(4):323–5.CrossRefPubMed
4.
Aly J, Choi L, Christy AY. The impact of coronavirus on reproduction: contraceptive access, pregnancy rates, pregnancy delay, and the role of vaccination. F S Rev. 2022;3(3):190–200.PubMedPubMedCentral
5.
Bojovic N, Stanisljevic J, Giunti G. The impact of COVID-19 on abortion access: insights from the European Union and the United Kingdom. Health Policy. 2021;125(7):841–58.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
6.
Endler M, Al-Haidari T, Benedetto C, Chowdhury S, Christilaw J, El Kak F, et al. How the coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic is impacting sexual and reproductive health and rights and response: results from a global survey of providers, researchers, and policy-makers. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2021;100(4):571–8.CrossRefPubMed
7.
Riley T, Sully E, Ahmed Z, Biddlecom A. Estimates of the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sexual and Reproductive Health in low- and Middle-Income Countries. Int Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2020;46:73–6.CrossRefPubMed
8.
Sturgiss E, Dut GM, Matenge S, Desborough J, Hall Dykgraaf S, Mazza D, et al. COVID-19 and access to sexual and reproductive healthcare for young people: an overview of the international literature and policy. Aust J Gen Pract. 2022;51(4):271–7.CrossRefPubMed
9.
Murewanhema G. Adolescent girls, a forgotten population in resource-limited settings in the COVID-19 pandemic: implications for sexual and reproductive health outcomes. Pan Afr Med J. 2020;37(Suppl 1):41.PubMedPubMedCentral
10.
Atay H, Perivier H, Gemzell-Danielsson K, Guilleminot J, Hassoun D, Hottois J, Gomperts R, Levrier E. Why women choose at-home abortion via teleconsultation in France: drivers of telemedicine abortion during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Sex Reprod Health. 2021;47(4):285–92. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1136/​bmjsrh-2021-201176. Epub 2021 Jul 28. PMID: 34321255.CrossRefPubMed
11.
Thomson-Glover R, Hamlett H, Weston D, Ashby J. Coronavirus (COVID-19) and young people’s sexual health. Sex Transm Infect. 2020;96(7):473–4.CrossRefPubMed
12.
Pfefferbaum B, North CS. Mental Health and the Covid-19 pandemic. N Engl J Med. 2020;383(6):510–2.CrossRefPubMed
13.
Ullah MA, Moin AT, Araf Y, Bhuiyan AR, Griffiths MD, Gozal D. Potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on future birth rate. Front Public Health. 2020;8:578438.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
14.
Aassve A, Cavalli N, Mencarini L, Plach S, Sanders S. Early assessment of the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and births in high-income countries. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021;118:36.CrossRef
15.
Aassve A, Cavalli N, Mencarini L, Plach S, Livi Bacci M. The COVID-19 pandemic and human fertility. Science. 2020;369(6502):370–1.CrossRefPubMed
16.
Desrosiers A, Betancourt T, Kergoat Y, Servilli C, Say L, Kobeissi L. A systematic review of sexual and reproductive health interventions for young people in humanitarian and lower-and-middle-income country settings. BMC Public Health. 2020;20(1):666.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
17.
COVID-19 Report of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health., 9th Edition. National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia. 2022.
18.
19.
20.
Anda EE, Nedberg IH, Rylander C, Gamkrelidze A, Turdziladze A, Skjeldestad FE et al. Implementing a birth registry in a developing country - experiences from Georgia. Tidsskr nor Laegeforen. 2017;138(2).
21.
22.
Manjavidze T, Rylander C, Skjeldestad FE, Kazakhashvili N, Anda EE. The impact of antenatal care utilization on admissions to neonatal intensive care units and perinatal mortality in Georgia. PLoS ONE. 2020;15(12):e0242991.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
23.
24.
Linden A. Conducting interrupted time-series Analysis for single- and multiple-group comparisons. Stata J. 2015;15(2):480–500.CrossRef
25.
26.
Lindberg DL, VandeVusse A, Mueller J, Kirstein M. Early impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: findings from the 2020 Guttmacher Survey of Reproductive Health experiences. New York: Guttmacher Institute; 2020.CrossRef
27.
LUPPI F, Arpino B, Rosina A. The impact of COVID-19 on fertility plans in Italy, Germany, France, Spain and UK. Center for Open Science; 2020.
28.
Micelli E, Cito G, Cocci A, Polloni G, Russo GI, Minervini A, et al. Desire for parenthood at the time of COVID-19 pandemic: an insight into the Italian situation. J Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol. 2020;41(3):183–90.CrossRefPubMed
29.
Naya CH, Saxbe DE, Dunton GF. Early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on fertility preferences in the United States: an exploratory study. Fertil Steril. 2021;116(4):1128–38.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
30.
31.
32.
Gotsadze T. COVID-19 related isolation measures impacted access to selected sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Georgia. UNFPA; Curatio International Foundation; 2020.
33.
Caroline M, Mridula S, Anna G, Sharon , Kristina G-D. Abortion regulation in Europe in the era of COVID-19: a spectrum of policy responses. BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health, 2020,47(4):e14.
Metadata
Title
The impact of COVID-19-related restrictions on pregnancy and abortion rates in the Republic of Georgia
Authors
Nia Khachidze
Tinatin Manjavidze
Erik Eik Anda
Ingvild Hersoug Nedberg
Ingvild Fossgard Sandøy
Charlotta Rylander
Publication date
01-12-2023
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Health Services Research / Issue 1/2023
Electronic ISSN: 1472-6963
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-10417-7

Other articles of this Issue 1/2023

BMC Health Services Research 1/2023 Go to the issue

Research

A resilience perspective on healthcare personnels’ experiences of managing the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study in Norwegian nursing homes and come care services

Research

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of healthcare workers towards COVID-19 patients in the United Arab Emirates: a cross-sectional study

Research

Projected impact of population aging on non-communicable disease burden and costs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2020–2030

Research

Patient satisfaction and associated factor at red cross pharmacies in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Research

Counseling regarding the care of people with dementia with a focus on §7a SGB XI in Germany: a "gray-shaded" scoping review

Research

Facilitators and barriers for using outdoor areas in the primary work tasks of eldercare workers in nursing homes