SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy not associated with complications in
neonates, study finds

Date:
September 23, 2020
Source:
Karolinska Institutet
Summary:
In a new study, researchers examined the association between a
positive SARS-CoV-2 test during pregnancy and complications in
mothers and their newborn babies. Almost two out of three pregnant
women who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 were asymptomatic and
the researchers found no higher prevalence of complications during
delivery or of ill-health in the neonates. However, preeclampsia
was more common in infected women.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In a new study published in JAMA, researchers at Karolinska Institutet
and Karolinska University Hospital have examined the association between a positive SARS-CoV-2 test during pregnancy and complications in mothers and their newborn babies. Almost two out of three pregnant women who tested positive for SARS- CoV-2 were asymptomatic and the researchers found no
higher prevalence of complications during delivery or of ill-health in
the neonates. However, preeclampsia was more common in infected women.


==========================================================================
On 25 March, Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden launched a screening programme (PCR test) for the new coronavirus for all women admitted
for delivery. The researchers behind the present study have collected
these data and linked them to data from the Swedish Pregnancy Register
for all 2,682 women who gave birth at the hospital between March 25 and
July 24, 2020.

In order to investigate the association between test positivity and
medical outcomes in both mother and neonate, the researchers compared test-positive women with test-negative women, matching the two groups for
age, BMI, parity, educational level, country of birth, smoking status, co-habitation and pre- pregnancy health status.

A total of 156 women (5.8 per cent) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Out
of these women, 65 per cent were asymptomatic. That the majority of test-positive pregnant women were asymptomatic is in line with other
research results where screening has been used. There was no statistically significant difference in terms of mode of delivery, haemorrhage, use
of epidural, preterm birth, length of hospital stay or breastfeeding
between infected and not infected women. Nor was there any difference
between the groups regarding the infants' Apgar scores or birth weight.

Women who tested positive for the new coronavirus had, for reasons that
remain unclear, a lower prevalence of induced labour (18.7 per cent,
as opposed to 29.6 per cent in the test-negative women) and a higher
prevalence of preeclampsia (7.7 per cent versus 4.3 per cent).

"One possible reason for the latter is that both preeclampsia and
COVID-19 impact several organs and can present similar symptoms," says
the study's lead author Mia Ahlberg, midwife at Theme Women's Health,
Pregnancy and Childbirth, Karolinska University Hospital, and researcher
at the Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet (Solna).

The fact that the majority of the test-positive women were asymptomatic
likely affect the results of the study, Dr Ahlberg explains.

"The proportion of women with symptoms was too small to be able to
investigate if these women have a higher risk of complications," she
says. "There are several reports of pregnant women who develop severe
COVID-19 with adverse outcomes. Larger studies should be conducted to be
able to identify if women with symptoms and different degrees of symptoms constitute a risk group for adverse outcomes such as preterm birth."
The study also showed that the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 was higher in
women with lower education (14.2 per cent with <10 years' schooling
compared with 4.0 per cent with >12 years' schooling) and higher in
women born in Africa or the Middle East (10.0 per cent) than in women
born in the Nordic countries, including Sweden (3.9 per cent).

The research was supported by grants from the Swedish Society of
Medicine, the Swedish Research Council and the Strategic Research Area
in Epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Karolinska_Institutet. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Mia Ahlberg, Martin Neovius, Sissel Saltvedt, Jonas So"derling,
Karin
Pettersson, Clara Brandkvist, Olof Stephansson. Association of
SARS-CoV- 2 Test Status and Pregnancy Outcomes. JAMA, 2020; DOI:
10.1001/ jama.2020.19124 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200923124746.htm

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