Included study characteristics
12 studies, involving a total of 3122 women, were eligible for data
extraction (Table 1). Five studies were from Europe (UK and Italy) (3)
(21) (22) (23, 24), four from America (USA and Canada) Gomez (4) (6) (7)
(25) and three from the Middle East (Israel) (2, 26),(27) . Nine studies
were single centre retrospective studies (2, 3, 6)(10)(22, 23, 25-27),
one was a multicentred prospective study (21) and two multicentred
retrospective studies (4),(24). All studies compared a cohort of women
diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy during the first Covid wave in early
2020, with a similar cohort managed pre-Covid: 2018-2019. The Covid
timeframes are strictly matched with the national lockdown in four
studies (3) (6) (23) (26). The other studies used a timeframe
incorporating the lockdown period but extending beyond when restrictions
were lifted. The pre-Covid timeframes were based on a similar period the
year before, 2019, or from 2 previous years (2018 and 2019) or during
the months preceding the first Covid wave. The total population of the
analysis includes 3122 women; 1828 women in the pre-Covid population
versus 1294 women in the Covid population. The two cohorts were matched
for demographics in each individual study. EPU system are implemented
nationally in the UK only. Studies conducted in Italy, Israel, US and
Canada do not have such structures in the hospitals involved.