Objective: To evaluate if the number of admitted extremely preterm (EP) infants (born before 28 weeks of gestational age) differed in the neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) of the SafeBoosC-III consortium during the global lockdown when compared to the corresponding time period in 2019. Design: This is a retrospective, observational study. Forty-six out of 79 NICUs (58%) from 17 countries participated. Principal investigators were asked to report the following information: (1) Total number of EP infant admissions to their NICU in the 3 months where the lockdown restrictions were most rigorous during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, (2) Similar EP infant admissions in the corresponding 3 months of 2019, (3) the level of local restrictions during the lockdown period, and (4) the local impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the everyday life of a pregnant woman. Results: The number of EP infant admissions during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was 428 compared to 457 in the corresponding 3 months in 2019 (-6.6%, 95% CI -18.2 to +7.1%, p = 0.33). There were no statistically significant differences within individual geographic regions and no significant association between the level of lockdown restrictions and difference in the number of EP infant admissions. A post-hoc analysis based on data from the 46 NICUs found a decrease of 10.3%in the total number of NICU admissions (n = 7,499 in 2020 vs. n = 8,362 in 2019). Conclusion: This ad hoc study did not confirm previous reports of a major reduction in the number of extremely pretermbirths during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrial.gov, identifier: NCT04527601 (registered August 26, 2020), https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04527601.

1st Department of Neonatology Aristotle University Hippokrateion General Hospital Thessaloniki Greece

3rd Faculty of Medicine Institute for the Care of the Mother and Child Charles University Prague Czechia

Center for Pediatrics Department of Neonatology Medical Center University of Freiburg Freiburg Germany

Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health University of Milan Milan Italy

Department of Neonatal Perinatal Medicine Saint Louis University School of Medicine St Louis MO United States

Department of Neonatology 12 Octubre University Hospital Madrid Spain

Department of Neonatology Aalborg University Hospital Aalborg Denmark

Department of Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit University Hospital of Heraklion Crete Greece

Department of Neonatology AZ St Jan Bruges Bruges Belgium

Department of Neonatology Centrum Medyczne Ujastek Krakow Poland

Department of Neonatology Children's Hospital of Fudan University Shanghai China

Department of Neonatology Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz Nicolaus Copernicus University Toruń Poland

Department of Neonatology Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico Milan Milan Italy

Department of Neonatology Gazi University Hospital Ankara Turkey

Department of Neonatology Grand Hôpital de Charleroi Charleroi Belgium

Department of Neonatology Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center Guangzhou China

Department of Neonatology Haukeland University Hospital Bergen Norway

Department of Neonatology Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona Spain

Department of Neonatology Hospital Universitario de Tarragona Juan XXIII Tarragona Spain

Department of Neonatology Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Training and Research Hospital Istanbul Turkey

Department of Neonatology La Paz University Hospital Madrid Spain

Department of Neonatology Marmara University Pendik Training and Research Hospital Istanbul Turkey

Department of Neonatology Neonatal Biophysical Monitoring and Cardiopulmonary Therapies Research Unit Poznan University of Medical Sciences Poznań Poland

Department of Neonatology Oslo University Hospital Oslo Norway

Department of Neonatology Rigshospitalet Copenhagen Denmark

Department of Neonatology Royal Hospital for Children Glasgow United Kingdom

Department of Neonatology University Hospital Leuven Leuven Belgium

Department of Neonatology University Hospital Motol Prague Czechia

Department of Neonatology University Hospital Zurich Zurich Switzerland

Department of Neonatology Wrocław Medical University Wrocław Poland

Department of Pediatrics Medical University of Graz Graz Austria

Department of Pediatrics The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Dublin Ireland

Division of Neonatology Department of Pediatrics Uludag University Medical Faculty Uludag Turkey

Division of Neonatology Department of Pediatrics University of Utah Salt Lake City UT United States

Division of Neonatology Instituto del Niño y del Adolescente Hospital Clinico San Carlos Health Research Institute San Carlos Madrid Spain

Division of Pediatrics Neonatal Perinatal University of Texas Southwestern Dallas TX United States

Infant Centre and Department of Paediatrics and Child Health University College Cork Cork Ireland

Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Children's Hospital Lucerne Lucerne Switzerland

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Alexandra University and State Maternity Hospital Athens Greece

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Department of Pediatrics Patras Medical School Patras Greece

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Department of Pediatrics University of Liege Liege Belgium

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Tivoli Hospital La Louviere Belgium

Neonatology Department Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education Warsaw Poland

Neonatology Department Hospital Clínic Maternintat Barcelona Spain

Neonatology Department University Clinical Hospital of Santiago de Compostela Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela Santiago Spain

S C Neonatologia Pres Osp S Anna Citta della Salute e della Scienza di Torino Torino Italy

St Johns Medical College Hospital Bengaluru India

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ClinicalTrials.gov
NCT04527601