Maternal infection with COVID-19 and increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become worldwide, posing particularly severe challenges. Pregnancy brings changes that might make individuals more vulnerable to this viral infection. To date, the impact of COVID-19 infection on pregnancy outcomes remains controversial.Method: We performed a meta-analysis to address the impact of COVID-19 infection on pregnancy outcomes. We searched the PubMed and China National Knowledge infrastructure (CNKI) databases for related articles. The odds ratio (OR) corresponding to the 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was used to define the impact of INFECTION and severity of COVID-19 on pregnancy outcomes. The statistical heterogeneity among studies was batched with the Q-test and I² statistics.Results: We collected 38 studies including 127,805 pregnancy women. Our meta-analysis revealed that pregnant women with COVID-19 have been linked to an increased risk of premature birth (OR = 1.66, 95% CI = 1.41-1.96), stillbirth (OR = 1.98, 95% CI = 1.22-3.21), pre-eclampsia (OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.18-1.80), and PROM (OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.07-1.81).Conclusions: Our meta-analysis showed that infection with COVID-19 increases the risk of preterm birth, stillbirth, pre-eclampsia, and PROM. Screening and early care for pregnant women to intervene with COVID-19 is important, given the increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Keywords: COVID-19; meta-analysis; pre-eclampsia; premature delivery.