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. 2021 Sep;100(9):1611-1619.
doi: 10.1111/aogs.14160. Epub 2021 May 7.

COVID-19 in pregnancy-characteristics and outcomes of pregnant women admitted to hospital because of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Nordic countries

Hilde Engjom  1   2 , Anna J M Aabakke  3   4 , Kari Klungsøyr  5   6 , Teresia Svanvik  7 , Outi Äyräs  8 , Eva Jonasdottir  9 , Lars Thurn  10 , Elin Jones  11 , Karin Pettersson  11 , Lill T Nyfløt  12 , Iqbal Al-Zirqi  12 , Siri Vangen  12 , Pétur B Júlíusson  1 , Karin Källén  13 , Mika Gissler  14 , Lone Krebs  4   15
Affiliations

COVID-19 in pregnancy-characteristics and outcomes of pregnant women admitted to hospital because of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Nordic countries

Hilde Engjom et al. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Introduction: Population-based studies about the consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) in pregnancy are few and have limited generalizability to the Nordic population and healthcare systems.

Material and methods: This study examines pregnant women with COVID-19 in the five Nordic countries. Pregnant women were included if they were admitted to hospital between 1 March and 30 June 2020 and had a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test ≤14 days prior to admission. Cause of admission was classified as obstetric or COVID-19-related.

Results: In the study areas, 214 pregnant women with a positive test were admitted to hospital, of which 56 women required hospital care due to COVID-19. The risk of admission due to COVID-19 was 0.4/1000 deliveries in Denmark, Finland and Norway, and 3.8/1000 deliveries in the Swedish regions. Women hospitalized because of COVID-19 were more frequently obese (p < 0.001) and had a migrant background (p < 0.001) compared with the total population of women who delivered in 2018. Twelve women (21.4%) needed intensive care. Among the 56 women admitted due to COVID-19, 48 women delivered 51 infants. Preterm delivery (n = 12, 25%, p < 0.001) and cesarean delivery (n = 21, 43.8%, p < 0.001) were more frequent in women with COVID-19 compared with women who delivered in 2018. No maternal deaths, stillbirths or neonatal deaths were reported.

Conclusions: The risk of admission due to COVID-19 disease in pregnancy was low in the Nordic countries. A fifth of the women required intensive care and we observed higher rates of preterm and cesarean deliveries. National public health policies appear to have had an impact on the risk of admission due to severe COVID-19 disease in pregnancy. Nordic collaboration is important in collecting robust data and assessing rare outcomes.

Keywords: COVID-19; cohort studies; obstetric delivery; pregnancy; pregnancy complications; pregnancy outcome; prospective studies; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors participated in the joint study planning and in planning and implementing their respective national data collection. HE, AA, TS, EJ and OÄ summarized the national datasets. HE, AA and KK analyzed the data. HE and AA drafted the manuscript and amended it according to feedback from all authors.

None.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flow diagram
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Completed gestational week at first positive SARS‐CoV‐2 PCR test in 56 pregnant women admitted to hospital due to COVID‐19 in the Nordic countries between 1 March and 30 June 2020
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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