An Observational Study of COVID-19 Infection in Pregnant Women at a Tertiary Care Center

Abstract

The hormonal and immunological changes which occur during pregnancy are the main contributing factors to the severity of the infection. Materials a n d MethodsThis was a prospective observational study done in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Government Vellore Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, after obtaining Institutional Ethics and Research Committee clearance. The hospital is a introductionThe COVID-19 infection has emerged as an ongoing pandemic with several waves in different parts of the world in different seasons. In December 2019 in Wuhan, China, the first case of COVID-19 infection was identified and reported. 1 India reported the first COVID-19 case in January 2020 and World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020.COVID-19 is an airborne infection with an incubation period of 2-14 days, transmitted through droplets while sneezing, coughing, or aerosol contact. The reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction test is the gold standard test being done all over the world which detects viral ribonucleic acid. 1 The clinical presentation of COVID-19 infection during pregnancy can be symptomatic or asymptomatic. Most COVID-19 patients during pregnancy are usually asymptomatic, requiring home quarantine simply to curtail the spread of the infection. Fever, cough, cold, headache, malaise, sore throat, and gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea and vomiting are the commonly reported symptoms. 1,2 Pregnant mothers with COVID-19 also present with complications like hypoxia, respiratory failure, vascular thrombosis, and multiorgan dysfunction syndrome.Viral pneumonia occurring in pregnancy with COVID-19 is severe as well as less responsive to standard drug therapy. 2 It is associated with significant morbidity and mortality to both the mother and the fetus when compared to women without the infection. 3 The physiological changes reduce the cell-mediated immunity making the body vulnerable to viral infections in particular. The activation of the Th1 cells is the pathogenic mechanism implicated in the development of lung damage. 4