Pregnant and Newborn Health in COVID-19 Pandemic: Knowledge level, Attitude and Perspective of Obstetricians & Gynecologists and Pediatricians in Turkey (A Survey-based Study)

Abstract

The COVID-19 is a rapidly ongoing pandemic. 368.513 cases and 10.027 fatalities have been reported in Turkey up to this day. Pregnant women and newborns constitute a special patient group in this disease. In our study, we aimed to measure the knowledge level, attitude to protective measures, perspective of education and medicolegal issues of obstetricians -gynecologists (OB-GYN) and pediatricians on pregnant and newborn health about COVID-19. Material-Methods:A cross-sectional, online-survey consisted of 22 questions. Age, academic degree, duration of the profession in the first three questions, level of knowledge about COVID-19 in the next 14 questions, attitude to protective measures, perspective of education and medicolegal issues in the last five questions were queried. Results:The questionnaire was applied to 145 physicians. 65.5% of them were pediatricians, 34.4% were OB-GYN. The level of having adequate knowledge about COVID-19 was determined as 44% and 34.7% for OB-GYN and pediatricians. No statistically significant relationship was found between the way of acquiring knowledge and academic degree in both physician groups (p>0.05).Positive attitude of OB-GYN about preventive measures during -after the pandemic were 94% -90%, 96.8% -92.6% for pediatricians. The positive perspective of education and medicolegal measures were determined 72% and 80 % for OB-GYN, 80% and 94.7% for pediatricians. Conclusion:Current education related to clinic approach-treatment algoritms about COVID-19 on pregnant and newborn health should be increased for OB-GYN and pediatricians, legal arrangements should be made to make them feel safe.

Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19 Infection in the Pediatric Age Group

“…Despite reports that the disease generally has a milder course in children and mortality is rare, it has been reported that the risk of morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 can be high in children with underlying disorders such as pulmonary dysfunction or immune suppression [6,7]. Previous studies in several countries have reported that healthy children with positive test results for COVID-19 have a mild course of disease and more often play a major role in the spread of the disease as asymptomatic carriers [8][9][10].…”