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Observational Study
. 2021 Apr 26;21(1):326.
doi: 10.1186/s12884-021-03784-8.

SARS-COV-2 infection in pregnant women and newborns in a Spanish cohort (GESNEO-COVID) during the first wave

Itzíar Carrasco  1   2 , Mar Muñoz-Chapuli  3 , Sara Vigil-Vázquez  4 , David Aguilera-Alonso  5   6   7 , Concepción Hernández  3 , César Sánchez-Sánchez  8 , Cristina Oliver  3 , Mónica Riaza  9 , Marta Pareja  10 , Olga Sanz  11 , Beatriz Pérez-Seoane  12 , Juan López  13 , Elena Márquez  14 , Sara Domínguez-Rodríguez  15 , Alicia Hernanz-Lobo  5   6   7 , Juan Antonio De León-Luis  6   3 , Manuel Sánchez-Luna  6   4 , María Luisa Navarro  5   6   7
Affiliations
Observational Study

SARS-COV-2 infection in pregnant women and newborns in a Spanish cohort (GESNEO-COVID) during the first wave

Itzíar Carrasco et al. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. .

Abstract

Background: Knowledge about SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy and newborns is scarce. The objective of this study is to analyse clinical and epidemiological characteristics of a cohort of women infected with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy and their newborns exposed to SARS-CoV-2 during gestation.

Methods: Multicentric observational study of Spanish hospitals from the GESNEO-COVD cohort, participants in RECLIP (Spanish Network of Paediatric Clinical Assays). Women with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection by PCR and/or serology during pregnancy, diagnosed and delivering during the period 15/03/2020-31/07/2020 were included. Epidemiological, clinical, and analytical data was collected.

Results: A total of 105 pregnant women with a median of 34.1 years old (IQR: 28.8-37.1) and 107 newborns were included. Globally, almost 65% of pregnant women had some COVID-19 symptoms and more than 43% were treated for SARS-COV-2. Overall, 30.8% of pregnant women had pneumonia and 5 (4.8%) women were admitted to the intensive care unit needing invasive mechanical ventilation. There was a rate of 36.2% of caesarean sections, which was associated with pneumonia during pregnancy (OR: 4.203, CI 95%: 1.473-11.995) and lower gestational age at delivery (OR: 0.724, CI 95%: 0.578-0.906). The prevalence of preterm birth was 20.6% and prematurity was associated with pneumonia during gestation (OR: 6.970, CI95%: 2.340-22.750) and having a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR at delivery (OR: 6.520, CI95%: 1.840-31.790). All nasopharyngeal PCR in newborns were negative at birth and one positivized at 15 days of life. Two newborns died, one due to causes related to prematurity and another of unexpected sudden death during early skin-to-skin contact after delivery.

Conclusions: Although vertical transmission has not been reported in this cohort, the prognosis of newborns could be worsened by SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy as COVID-19 pneumonia increased the risk of caesarean section deliveries and preterm births.

Keywords: COVID-19; Caesarean section; Morbidity; Mortality; Newborn; Pneumonia; Pregnancy; Preterm birth; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Positive RT-PCR, pneumonia and symptomatology in pregnant women at delivery during the study period (15 March 2020–31 July 2020)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Factors associated with pneumonia during pregnancy, caesarean section at delivery and prematurity: a Pneumonia, b Caesarean section and c Prematurity. * < 0.05; ** < 0.01; *** < 0.001
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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