Evaluation of the Obstetric Patient: Pregnancy Outcomes during COVID-19 Pandemic—A Single-Center Retrospective Study in Romania

Abstract

Acute respiratory-syndrome-related coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2, has become a public health issue in our country. It mainly affects the vulnerable population, especially those with comorbidities. In this retrospective study, we set out to explore the effects of COVID-19 on pregnancy, with the vulnerability of pregnant women to SARS-CoV-2 infection also representing a main focus. We included 39 patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and 39 control subjects recruited from the Emergency County Hospital of Hunedoara, Romania. Our aim was to explore the indirect impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pregnancy, as our patient group was included in the “high-risk” category. As a result, cesarean section prevailed, the main reason being fetal hypoxia. Newborns were evaluated by real-time postnatal polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) viral testing: none exhibited SARS-CoV-2 infection, with no vertical transmission of the virus being detected. Moreover, we observed no maternal or neonatal deaths resulting from COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 has been found to cause a heterogeneity of manifestations with damage to multiple organs, and its evolution remains unknown. In our study, the need for antiviral treatment was limited, but anticoagulants proved effective in terms of improving the outcome.

Impact of COVID-19 on Breastfeeding among SARS-CoV-2 Infected Pregnant Women: A Single Centre Survey Study

“…According to current knowledge, pregnant women have an increased risk of developing severe pneumonia because they are more susceptible to respiratory pathogens due to changes in their immune systems [4]. A recent metaanalysis showed that black and Asian ethnicities, obesity, hypertension, and asthma are risk factors for developing COVID-19 related symptoms in pregnancy, although other authors report similar outcomes between COVID-19 positive and negative pregnant women, with complications (mostly bleeding or thrombosis) occurring only in a small percentage of COVID-19 cases [5,6].…”