Hospitals see significant drop in premature births during lockdown

Post by bitexploder » Mon, Jul 20, 2020, 1:26 PM UTC

appleflaxen wrote: post #4

DoingIsLearning wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the article already provides a more likely educated guess: "By staying home, some pregnant women may have experienced less stress from work and commuting, gotten more sleep and received more support from their families, the researchers said." I am not saying air pollution should be dismissed as a factor, but the elephant in the room is that the stress levels experienced in a _lot_ of workplaces are not compat…

My experience has been that people have a net greater degree of stress right now vs. pre-pandemic. People are changing interpersonal work stress for interpersonal family stress which is itself magnified by the circumstances, plus the stress of a pandemic. I have no idea what the cause could be, but to argue that "premie births are down because stress is down" can't possibly by tested right now, when stress is at an a…

Post by MandieD » Mon, Jul 20, 2020, 4:33 PM UTC

DoingIsLearning wrote: post #3

Zealotux wrote: post #2

Uneducated guess: I've read a few studies linking air pollution to pregnancy disorders. Maybe the effects are even stronger than previously thought.

I think the article already provides a more likely educated guess: "By staying home, some pregnant women may have experienced less stress from work and commuting, gotten more sleep and received more support from their families, the researchers said." I am not saying air pollution should be dismissed as a factor, but the elephant in the room is that the stress levels experienced in a _lot_ of workplaces are not compat…

Post by sebazzz » Tue, Jul 21, 2020, 5:44 AM UTC

627467 wrote: post #13

Adding my uneducated guess: - there's some evidence that healthcare in general can benefit from deliberate less intervention by patients and medical staff [0] - maternity intervention is notorious for intervention (historically for good reasons) yet, today, so much extra can be profited by just pre-planning interventions that are distorting incentives [1] - pandemic has raised the stakes of leaving home, particularly…

Post by bananaface » Tue, Jul 21, 2020, 8:38 AM UTC

emn13 wrote: post #24

bananaface wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds appealing as an explanation, but so does the general stress argument. I'm skeptical of concrete explanations in general.

The stress of fearing a pandemic is perhaps quite different from the everyday stresses of work. We may find them both severe - even the fear much worse; but it's still conceivable the everyday stresses are worse specifically to the extent they influence birth weight. Perhaps everyday stress is more immediate; perhaps it's more physical; or perhaps it's more social - or perhaps we're grasping at straws and it's someth…

Post by pacamara619 » Tue, Jul 21, 2020, 9:13 AM UTC

627467 wrote: post #13

Adding my uneducated guess: - there's some evidence that healthcare in general can benefit from deliberate less intervention by patients and medical staff [0] - maternity intervention is notorious for intervention (historically for good reasons) yet, today, so much extra can be profited by just pre-planning interventions that are distorting incentives [1] - pandemic has raised the stakes of leaving home, particularly…