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. 2021 Oct:199:17-19.
doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2021.08.005. Epub 2021 Aug 16.

National population prevalence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 among pregnant women in Scotland during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: a prospective national serosurvey

A McAuley  1 , P Gousias  2 , T Hasan  2 , L Rashid  3 , C Richardson  4 , G Reid  2 , K Templeton  3 , J McGuire  4 , H Wise  3 , L McVicar  3 , S Jenks  3 , R Gunn  3 , E Dickson  2 , S J Stock  5 , A Stockton  2 , C Waugh  2 , R Wood  6 , J McMenamin  2 , C Robertson  7 , D J Goldberg  8 , N E Palmateer  9
Affiliations

National population prevalence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 among pregnant women in Scotland during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: a prospective national serosurvey

A McAuley et al. Public Health. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to determine SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among pregnant women in the Scottish population during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Study design: Prospective national serosurvey.

Methods: We tested 13,428 residual samples retrieved from pregnant women participating in the first trimester combined ultrasound and biochemical screening for fetal trisomy across Scotland for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies over a 6-month period from November 2020 to April 2021. Seroprevalence estimates were adjusted for the sensitivity and specificity of the assays and weighted to reference populations.

Results: Seroprevalence rates in the antenatal samples significantly increased from 5.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.7%-6.5%) in the 5-week period up to and including International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Week 51 (w/b Monday 14 December 2020) to 11.3% (95% CI 10.1%-12.6%) in the 5-week period up to and including ISO Week 14 (w/b Monday 5 April 2021). Increasing seroprevalence trends across the second wave were observed among all age groups.

Conclusions: By the end of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately one in 10 women tested around the end of the first trimester of pregnancy had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, suggesting that the vast majority were still susceptible to COVID-19 as they progressed to the later stages of pregnancy, when risks from infection are elevated for both mother and baby.

Keywords: Antenatal; Antibodies; COVID-19; Coronavirus; Pregnancy; SARS-CoV-2; Serology; Seroprevalence.

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