A Systematic Review of Neurological Complications in Pregnant Women With COVID-19

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has killed millions of people around the world so far and has turned into a disaster for people and healthcare systems. Neurological problems are often seen in people with COVID-19 in the general population, but it is unclear how common they are in pregnant women. This study provides a summary of studies on pregnant women with proven SARS-CoV-2 infection and a particular neurologic diagnosis from different parts of the world. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 15 papers were assessed to create this review article. Based on our findings, the peripheral and central nervous systems were both equally impacted: Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS, n=1), bifacial weakness, paresthesia, and vestibulocochlear neuritis (n=1), eclampsia types (n=2), and neurological disease (n=2); case reports, retrospective studies, editorials, and prospective observational studies were included. The median gestational age was 34 (30-36.5) weeks, and the median maternal age was 32.5 (25-35) years. Given the number of reports of neurologic problems associated with COVID-19 in the general community, our findings might be overstated, and we chose the ones that fit our criteria. We hope that this review helps in the early detection and management of neurological diseases during pregnancy.

Keywords: covid-19; neurological complications; neurological manifestations; pregnant women; sars-cov-2.

Figure 1. PRISMA flow chart

PRISMA: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis; MeSH: Medical Subject Headings; SANRA: scale for quality assessment of narrative review articles; PMC: PubMed Central