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. 2023 Mar 15;18(3):e0281435.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281435. eCollection 2023.

Maternal COVID-19 infection and associated factors: A cross-sectional study

Mwansa Ketty Lubeya  1   2   3   4 , Jane Chanda Kabwe  4   5 , Moses Mukosha  2   4   6 , Selia Ng'anjo Phiri  1   3 , Christabel Chigwe Phiri  4   7 , Malungo Muyovwe  7 , Joan T Price  8   9 , Choolwe Jacobs  10 , Patrick Kaonga  10   11
Affiliations

Maternal COVID-19 infection and associated factors: A cross-sectional study

Mwansa Ketty Lubeya et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Since the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, several studies have been conducted to examine associated factors. However, few studies have focused on pregnant women infected with COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, this study investigated the prevalence and factors associated with COVID-19 infection among pregnant women at the Levy Mwanawasa University Teaching Hospital and Women and Newborn Hospital of the University Teaching Hospitals in Lusaka, Zambia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between March and July 2021. Women were recruited as they presented for antenatal care. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire to capture variables of interest (socio-demographic, clinical and obstetric). COVID-19 diagnosis was made using a nasopharyngeal swab by PCR test. Multivariable logistic regression was used to control for confounding and calculate the odds ratios for each explanatory variable and respective 95% confidence intervals.

Results: The study enrolled 352 participants with a mean (standard deviation [SD]) age of 30.1 years (5.6). One hundred thirty of 352 (36.9%; 95% CI: 31.9 to 42.2) participants had a confirmed positive SARS-CoV-2 test result. At univariable analysis, factors associated with COVID-19 were increased gestational age, education status and maternal HIV serostatus. Women with a secondary level of education were less likely to have COVID-19 infection than those with a primary level of education (AOR = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.09-0.63). On the other hand, a one-week increase in gestational age was associated with higher odds of COVID-19 infection (AOR = 1.03, 95% CI: 1.01-1.06).

Conclusion: The results showed that the prevalence of COVID-19 infection among pregnant women was 36.9% and was associated with increased gestational age and a lower level of education. To mitigate adverse maternal outcomes, there is a need to screen for COVID-19 strictly and broadly monitor prenatal women presenting for healthcare.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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