Severity of COVID‐19 infection in pregnancy and adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes: A retrospective study in a tertiary center

Abstract

Introduction To estimate the association between the severity of maternal SARS‐CoV2 disease and adversity of maternal and neonatal outcomes. Methods A retrospective single‐site descriptive study was conducted, where the records of pregnant women, universally screened for COVID‐19 infection, with laboratory‐confirmed SARS‐CoV2 disease during the period from March 2020 to March 2021 were reviewed. Patients were divided into two groups: an asymptomatic/mild disease group and a moderate/severe disease group. Maternal outcomes, including the incidence of pregnancy‐induced hypertension (PIH)/pre‐eclampsia, cesarean section (CS) rates, maternal intensive care unit (ICU) admission rates, and neonatal outcomes, including preterm birth, low birth weight, and neonatal ICU (NICU) admission rates, were compared in both study groups. Results A total of 352 patients were included with 87 (24.7%) having a moderate/severe disease. In this group, the incidence of preterm birth (<37+6 weeks) was 25.3% (n = 22) and that of low birth weight was 23.0% (n = 20) compared to 12.8% (n = 34) and 13.6% (n = 36) respectively in the asymptomatic/mild disease group. The rates of maternal and NICU admissions were also higher in the former group. Moreover, the rates of development of PIH/pre‐eclampsia in the former and latter groups were 9.2% (n = 8) and 4.9% (n = 13), respectively. Conclusion There is likely an association between the severity of maternal SARS‐CoV2 disease and adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes.