Maternity Ward Closures and Infant Health Outcomes, Maternal Health Outcomes, and Birth Procedures

We analyze the short- and long-term impacts of maternity ward closures using registry data on every delivery in Norway from 1981 through 2019. Among those directly experiencing a closure, we find a small decline in 5-minute Apgar score and increased probability of birth outside institution. Since this drop in Apgar is not reflected across the other indicators, we hypothesize it reflects different institutional scoring standards as opposed to a health effect. For long-term outcomes, we find treatment as an infant increases the likelihood of beginning high school by 1 percentage point, but has no effect on graduating. Furthermore, for infants assigned female at birth, we find early-life treatment does not change the probability of giving birth as an adult or experiencing negative health conditions during pregnancy. We hypothesize robust prenatal care and health and social services may mitigate the impact of closures and thus account for a limited treatment effect.