Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergency measures on abortion care taken during this period in a French region (Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur)

Abstract

Introduction: On March 17, 2020, the first mandatory national lockdown was implemented in France, followed by an adaptation of health services to ensure access to abortion care. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 and the emergency measures on abortion care taken during this period in the Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur region (PACA) in France.

Materials and methods: This retrospective study was based on the health insurance information system national database (SNDS), which included all women who had an abortion between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020 in the PACA region. We compared the total number of abortions, the distribution (surgical abortion, medical abortion (MA) at home (MAH) or in a clinic between 2019 and 2020 and the use of teleconsultation (TC) in 2020.

Results: The total number of abortions in the PACA region decreased by 3.5% between 2019 and 2020. The rate of MA was higher in 2020 than in 2019 [17,489/22,444 (79.3%) vs. 17,042/22,354 (74.5%) (P < 0.0001)]. The rate of MAH was higher in 2020 than in 2019 [(8,177/17,489 (46.8%) vs. 7,264/17,042 (42.6%) (P < 0.0001)]. TC was used in 96 MAH in 2020.

Conclusion: A decrease in the number of abortions in the PACA region was observed in 2020. There was an increase in MA, mainly MAH, allowing easier and more adapted access to the health situation. TC was poorly used.