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
. 2021 Sep 23;4(2):127-129.
doi: 10.1097/FM9.0000000000000128. eCollection 2022 Apr.

Second and Third Trimester Fetal Death in the Setting of COVID-19: A California 2020 Case Series

Rosalyn E Plotzker  1 , Similoluwa Sowunmi  2 , Valorie Eckert  2 , Emily Barnes  3 , Van Ngo  3 , Lauren J Stockman  1 , Chloe LeMarchand  1 , Umme-Aiman Halai  3
Affiliations

Second and Third Trimester Fetal Death in the Setting of COVID-19: A California 2020 Case Series

Rosalyn E Plotzker et al. Matern Fetal Med. .

Abstract

Maternal severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy may impact fetal development via vertical transmission, complications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), or placental injury. However, potential associations between prenatal SARS-CoV-2 infection and fetal loss are not well understood. This case series of thirteen second and third trimester fetal losses reported by local public health departments to California's state public health surveillance included maternal clinical and demographic characteristics as well as placental pathology, fetal autopsy reports, and coroner report. There was no evidence that maternal COVID-19 disease severity, placental injury, or SARS-CoV-2 vertical transmission contributed to pregnancy loss. However, this case series is a limited sample; more research is needed to identify factors of prenatal SARS-CoV-2 that may contribute to fetal death in the second and third trimesters.

Keywords: COVID-19; Fetal death; Prenatal infection; Stillbirth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None.

References

    1. Joseph NT, Rasmussen SA, Jamieson DJ. The effects of COVID-19 on pregnancy and implications for reproductive medicine. Fertil Steril 2021;115(4):824–830. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2020.12.032. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alzamora MC, Paredes T, Caceres D, et al. . Severe COVID-19 during pregnancy and possible vertical transmission. Am J Perinatol 2020;37(8):861–865. doi:10.1055/s-0040-1710050. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fenizia C, Biasin M, Cetin I, et al. . Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 vertical transmission during pregnancy. Nat Commun 2020;11(1):5128. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-18933-4. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Knight M, Bunch K, Vousden N, et al. . Characteristics and outcomes of pregnant women admitted to hospital with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in UK: national population based cohort study. BMJ 2020;369:m2107. doi:10.1136/bmj.m2107. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Richtmann R, Torloni MR, Oyamada Otani AR, et al. . Fetal deaths in pregnancies with SARS-CoV-2 infection in Brazil: a case series. Case Rep Womens Health 2020;27:e00243. doi:10.1016/j.crwh.2020.e00243. - PMC - PubMed