[627467]

Adding my uneducated guess:

- there's some evidence that healthcare in general can benefit from deliberate less intervention by patients and medical staff [0]

- maternity intervention is notorious for intervention (historically for good reasons) yet, today, so much extra can be profited by just pre-planning interventions that are distorting incentives [1]

- pandemic has raised the stakes of leaving home, particularly visiting hospitals so people think twice before deciding to go for intervention - patients preserveer more. That includes expecting mothers.

[0] this an opinion https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/19/patien...

[1] https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/too-much-too-soon-address...

[pacamara619]

In Switzerland we had a massive spike in untreated heart attacks precisely because your third point. It's good that people don't go to the ER for minor things but people should know that symptoms of a heart attack are not to be taken lightly.

[paublyrne]

This seems plausible if induced labours were not excluded from the data sets.

[627467]

this question will sound as uneducated as the speculation above: aren't induced labours only 1 scenario of (possibly) superfluous intervention?

Also, I couldn't find reference in the article where they describe that data as being excluded..

[sebazzz]

I was thinking in terms of less travel induced stress, both physical and mental.