ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Family Medicine and Primary Care
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1546013
Three-year impact of COVID-19 pandemic on hospitalized twin pregnancies: evaluation of characteristics and changes in antibiotic prescribing
Provisionally accepted
Qin-Yu Cai1,2
Shang Jing Liu1
Xing-Qi Zhi3
Weizhen Tang1Ying-Xiong Wang1Xia Lan2
Li Wen2
Shu-Juan Luo2Lan Wang2*
Jie Sheng3*
Tai-Hang Liu1*- 1Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
- 2Women and Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
- 3China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted healthcare systems worldwide, including obstetric care. However, the long-term effects on twin pregnancies remain unclear. This study investigates the impact of COVID-19 on the clinical characteristics and antibiotic prescribing patterns in hospitalized twin pregnancies.Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at Women and Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China, involving 3,827 twin pregnancies with live deliveries between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2022. The pre-pandemic group included 1,707 patients, and the pandemic group included 2,120. Sociodemographic and clinical data were analyzed using general linear models with SPSS and R software.Results: During the pandemic, twin pregnancy admissions increased by 24.19%. Patients in the pandemic group have less gestational weight gain (17.00 vs. 16.08 kg, P < 0.001), had higher rates of assisted reproductive technology use (73.2% vs. 68.7%, P = 0.002), and experienced more complications. Neonates showed higher rates of pneumonia (5.7% vs. 3.8%, P < 0.001) and NICU admissions (43.7% vs. 13.9%, P < 0.001). Longer hospital stays were observed in the pandemic group (P = 0.004). Antibiotic prescriptions, especially non-repeat prescriptions, increased for older patients, those with higher BMI, and premature deliveries. The rate of repeated antibiotic prescriptions for bacterial vaginosis increased 1.68 times.Conclusion: COVID-19 influenced twin pregnancy admissions, clinical characteristics, and antibiotic use. The study highlights the need for rational antibiotic use and improved healthcare resource management in future crises.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, Retrospective cohort study, twin pregnancies, Clinical Characteristics, Antibiotic prescribing
Received: 27 Feb 2025; Accepted: 28 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cai, Liu, Zhi, Tang, Wang, Lan, Wen, Luo, Wang, Sheng and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Lan Wang, Women and Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
Jie Sheng, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, 100029, Beijing Municipality, China
Tai-Hang Liu, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
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