Due to the corona pandemic, pregnant women or women who have just given birth go to the GP or out-of-hours clinic less often if they have complaints. Which reports research institute Nivel Thursday on the basis of research it has done in collaboration with UMC Groningen, Radboudumc and Maastricht UMC+.
According to Nivel, there has not only been an ‘overall reduction in the use of care’, but the care demand of pregnant women and women who have recently given birth has also changed. The group in question visits the general practitioner remarkably more often for psychological and digestive complaints. They also more often received telephone consultations instead of a physical appointment. The number of reports of additional symptoms of pregnancy, such as urinary tract problems and vomiting, decreased.
For the study, the care demand of pregnant women and women who had just given birth was compared from February 1 to September 30, 2020 with the same period in 2019. For this, researchers used data from general practices and posts. Researchers are afraid to say what the consequences of the reduced visits to GPs are.
This article is also part of our live blog: The Netherlands no longer red on the European corona map
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