Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Sep:252:444-446.
doi: 10.1016/j.ejogrb.2020.07.035. Epub 2020 Jul 22.

Universal screening for SARS-CoV-2 in pregnant women at term admitted to an East London maternity unit

Sanduni Abeysuriya  1 , Samreen Wasif  2 , Callum Counihan  3 , Neha Shah  4 , Stamatina Iliodromiti  5 , Maria-Teresa Cutino-Moguel  6 , Ferha Saeed  7 , Luxmimalar Velauthar  8
Affiliations

Universal screening for SARS-CoV-2 in pregnant women at term admitted to an East London maternity unit

Sanduni Abeysuriya et al. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: To explore the prevalence of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 in the maternity population.

Study design: Newham University Hospital based in East London serving a population with the highest death rate secondary to SARS-CoV-2 in the UK, commenced universal screening of all admissions to the Maternity Unit from 22nd April to 5th May, 2020. A proforma was created to capture key patient demographics, indication for admission and presence of SARS-CoV-2 related symptoms at the point of presentation.

Results: A total of 180 women with a mean age of 29.9 (SD 7.4) years, at a median gestation of 39 (IQR 37 + 1-40 + 3) weeks underwent universal screening with nasopharyngeal PCR swabs during the two-week period of the study. BAME identity or parity was not associated with the likelihood of a positive result. Seven women (3.9 %, 1.6-7.8) were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, of whom 6 (3.3 %, 1.2-7.1) were asymptomatic; 85.7 % (42.1-99.6) of the SARS-CoV-2 positive women were asymptomatic. The sensitivity of symptom-driven testing was 14.3 % (0.36-57.87) and specificity was 91.86 % (86.72-95.48) with a positive predictive value of 6.67 % (1.08-31.95) and a negative predictive value of 96.34 % (95.10-97.28).

Conclusion: The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the maternity population served by Newham University Hospital was 3.9 %, four weeks after lockdown. Of the women who were found to be SARS-CoV-2 positive, a high proportion (87.9 %) were asymptomatic. These findings support the need for universal testing to enable targeted isolation and robust infectious control measures to mitigate outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 in maternity units.

Keywords: Medical disorders in pregnancy; SARS-CoV-2; Universal screening.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection stratified per symptom status.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. WHO Timeline - COVID-19. 2020; Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/27-04-2020-who-timeline---covid-19. [Accessed 10 June 2020].
    1. Aguilar Jacob B., Faust Jeremy Samuel, Westafer Lauren M., Gutierrez Juan B. 2020. Investigating the impact of asymptomatic carriers on COVID-19 transmission. Available from: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.18.20037994v3. [Accessed 10 June 2020] - DOI
    1. Flaxman Seth, Mishra Swapnil, Gandy Axel. Imperial College London; 2020. Estimating the number of infections and the impact of nonpharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 in 11 European countries. Available from: doi: https://doi.org/10.25561/77731. [Accessed 10 June 2020]
    1. Peto Julian. Covid-19 mass testing facilities could end the epidemic rapidly. BMJ. 2020;368 doi: 10.1136/bmj.m1163. Available From: (Published 22 March 2020) - DOI - PubMed
    1. Guidance: Staying alert and safe (social distancing). Updated 4th June 2020; Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/staying-alert-and-safe-social.... [Accessed: 10 June 2020].

MeSH terms