"Importance Neonatal mortality is a major public health concern that was potentially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To prepare for future health crises, it is important to investigate whether COVID-19 pandemic–related interventions were associated with changes in neonatal mortality...
Methods ... This study used a population-based cohort design, utilizing data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maternal-linked birth and infant death records spanning from January 2016 through December 2020...
Results ... [T]he study included 18 011 173 births...
The SDI [social distancing index] was not significantly correlated with neonatal mortality... early neonatal mortality..., and infant mortality...
SDI and mortality correlation with lag analyses showed that the SDI was significantly associated with higher neonatal mortality rates with a 2-month lag period (unadjusted: CC, 0.78 [95% CI, 0.17 to 0.95]; ARIMA adjusted: CC, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.42 to 0.97]), and with higher early neonatal mortality rates also with a 2-month lag period (adjusted: CC, 0.72 [95% CI, 0.04 to 0.94]; ARIMA adjusted: CC, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.44 to 0.97])."
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