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TL;DR
Despite an increasing trend in cesarean section delivery, no significant worsening trends were found for preterm birth, low birth weight, or newborn anomalies across any district.
Life · 9 authors, 4 centres
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Despite an increasing trend in cesarean section delivery, no significant worsening trends were found for preterm birth, low birth weight, or newborn anomalies across any district.
This study analyzed longitudinal changes in obstetrics outcomes over 8 years following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima nuclear accident using data from the Fukushima Pregnancy and Birth Survey. Of 57,537 respondents (50.0% response rate), 57,375 were included after exclusion criteria were applied. Outcomes were compared across six administrative districts. Maternal age and cesarean section delivery incidence increased significantly over the study period (p = 0.005 for cesarean section). However, no significant trends were observed for preterm birth (overall rate 4.6% in 2011 to 5.2% in 2018; p = 0.197), low birth weight (8.6% to 9.1%; p = 0.500), or newborn anomalies (2.85% to 2.23%; p = 0.069) in any district. Cardiac malformation was the most common anomaly, observed at 1.01% in 2013. Limitations include a 50% response rate with potential over-representation of disaster-affected women, reliance on self-administered questionnaires, and the absence of individual radiation exposure dose data.