To explore the changes of obstetric ultrasound workload during the epidemic period of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

A retrospective analysis was conducted on the obstetrics ultrasound workload at the Department of Ultrasonography of Peking Union Medical College Hospital from February to May 2020 (the epidemic period), which was compared with that from February to May 2019 (the same period in 2019) and from October 2019 to January 2020 (the pre-epidemic period). Chi-square test was used to compare the proportion of workload between different periods and between different stages of pregnancy.

During the epidemic period, the total workload of the ultrasound department decreased by 60.1% and 61.3%, respectively, compared with that in the same period in 2019 and that in the pre-epidemic period. The total number of examinations of obstetric ultrasound was 7684, with a year-on-year decrease of 23.0% and a decrease of 19.2% from the pre-epidemic period. The proportion of obstetric ultrasound workload increased sharply, and was positively correlated with the severity of the epidemic. From February to May 2020, the proportion of obstetric ultrasound workload was 35.8%, 15.3%, 9.8%, and 7.4%, respectively. Among them, the workload proportion in February 2020 increased by 5.0 times year-on-year and 5.3 times than the pre-epidemic proportion. There were significant changes in the proportion of prenatal ultrasound examinations in different stages of pregnancy. The proportion in the first trimester decreased by 6.8% year-on-year, and decreased by 5.8% compared with the pre-epidemic proportion. The proportion in the third trimester increased by 5.2% year-on-year, and increased by 3.1% compared with the pre-epidemic proportion. During the epidemic period, the number of obstetric ultrasound referrals was 301, accounting for 3.9% of the total obstetric ultrasound workload, and there was no significant difference compared with that in the same period in 2019 (4.1%; χ²=0.331, P=0.588) and the pre-epidemic period (3.4%; χ²=2.895, P=0.093).

During the epidemic period of COVID-19, the total workload of ultrasound department declines sharply, while the proportion of obstetric ultrasound workload increases significantly.