Objective: To measure the association of China's universal two child policy, announced in October 2015, with changes in births and health related birth characteristics.

Design: National, descriptive before-and-after comparative study.

Setting: Every county in 28 of 31 provinces of mainland China.

Participants: Births included in two national databases: 67 786 749 births from county level monthly aggregated data between January 2014 and December 2017; and 31 786 279 deliveries from individual level delivery information records between January 2015 and December 2017.

Main Outcome Measures: Monthly mean number of births and mean proportion of multiparous mothers and mothers aged 35 and over, preterm deliveries, and caesarean deliveries.

Results: The study had two phases: the baseline period (up to and including June 2016, nine months after the policy announcement) and the effective period (from July 2016 to December 2017). The estimated number of additional births attributable to the new policy between July 2016 and December 2017 was 5.40 million (95% confidence interval 4.34 to 6.46). The monthly mean percentage of multiparous mothers and mothers aged 35 and over increased by 9.1 percentage points (95% confidence interval 6.4 to 11.7) and 5.8 percentage points (5.2 to 6.4), respectively. This increase in older mothers, however, was not associated with a concurrent increase in the overall rate of preterm birth. The monthly mean caesarean delivery rate among multiparous mothers increased by 1.2 percentage points (0.8 to 1.6) from 39.7% to 40.9%, and decreased by 3.0 percentage points (-3.5 to -2.5) among nulliparous mothers from 39.6% to 36.6%.

Conclusions: Since its announcement in October 2015, the universal two child policy has been associated with a rise in births in China and with changes in health related birth characteristics: women giving birth have been more likely to be multiparous, and more likely to be aged 35 and over. No evidence of concurrent worsening outcomes (that is, premature births) was seen.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6699592PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l4680DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

percentage points
16
universal child
12
child policy
12
december 2017
12
multiparous mothers
12
association china's
8
china's universal
8
births
8
changes births
8
national descriptive
8

Similar Publications

Background: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) can be used in a variety of clinical settings and is a safe and powerful tool for ultrasound-trained healthcare providers, such as physicians and nurses; however, the effectiveness of ultrasound education for nursing students remains unclear. This prospective cohort study aimed to examine the sustained educational impact of bladder ultrasound simulation among nursing students.

Methods: To determine whether bladder POCUS simulation exercises sustainably improve the clinical proficiency regarding ultrasound examinations among nursing students, evaluations were conducted before and after the exercise and were compared with those after the 1-month follow-up exercise.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inequality in COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake: A repeated cross-sectional analysis of COVID vaccine acceptance and uptake in 13 countries.

Health Policy

January 2025

Health Economics Research Centre, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, United Kingdom; National Institute for Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, United Kingdom; Centre For Health Policy, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia. Electronic address:

Background COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was a key barrier to ending the pandemic via mass immunisation. Objectives Assess magnitudes and differences in socioeconomic inequality in stated COVID-19 vaccine acceptance (hesitancy) and uptake. Methods Online surveys were conducted in 13 countries, collecting data from 15,337 and 18,189 respondents respectively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The dietary intake of hospitalised patients is often compromised during hospitalisation, which can be a causal factor for hospital malnutrition. This is considered a public health problem worldwide and is associated with an increased risk of other complications.

Objectives: Our objective was to determine the dietary intake of hospitalised individuals and if the prescribed diet influences it.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Anticancer-Drug-Related Cardiotoxicity from Adjuvant Goserelin and Tamoxifen Therapy.

J Clin Med

January 2025

Laboratory of Epidemiological and Clinical Cardiology, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40138 Bologna, Italy.

Breast cancer is a prevalent malignancy with rising incidence globally. Advances in endocrine therapy have improved outcomes for premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. However, these treatments may induce menopause-like states, potentially elevating cardiovascular risks, including left ventricular (LV) dysfunction.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inflation generates stress, which may lead to high rates of anxiety and depression. Given the recent surge and subsequent decline in the inflation rate in the United States, the prevalence of stress due to inflation may vary, as well as its relationship with anxiety and depression. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence of stress due to inflation and its association with anxiety and depression over time among working-age adults in the United States.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!