Maternal and perinatal outcomes of pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection: a single centre experience

ABSTRACT
Objective. Aim of this study was to evaluate maternal and perinatal outcomes of pregnant women affected by COVID-19 during the first pandemic wave in a third level University Hospital of Southern Italy.
Materials and Methods. This was a single-centre, cohort study on SARS-CoV-2 in pregnancy. Pregnant women with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 from August 1, 2020 to January 1, 2021 from University of Naples Federico II were included. A confirmed case of COVID-19 was defined as a positive result on real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) assay of nasal and pharyngeal swab specimens. The primary outcome was the incidence preterm birth.
Results. 249 singleton pregnancies were included in the study. Mean gestational age at diagnosis was 31.0 ± 6.7 weeks, with 2.4% of women being diagnosed in the first, 14.1% in the second and 83.5% in the third trimester of pregnancy. The majority of the women received therapy with low molecular weight heparin (88.8%). 47 women (18.9%) required oxygen. The rate of admission to maternal intensive care unit was 2.8%. There was one case of maternal death, accounting for a maternal mortality rate of 0.4%. Out of
the 249 ended pregnancies, we reported two spontaneous abortions and two stillbirths. Among 245 live-born babies, no neonatal deaths were recorded.
All babies were tested negative at RT-PCR nasal and pharyngeal swab. The incidence of preterm delivery before 37 weeks was 10%.
Conclusions. SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women during the first pandemic wave in the South of Italy was associated with relative low rates of maternal and perinatal adverse outcome.