Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes in Covid-19 Infected Pregnant Women: A Study From Tertiary Health Care Institution

Introduction: At the onset of the pandemic, there was insufficient data to understand if the clinical features of COVID-19 infection in pregnancy differed from those in the general population and if pregnancy and labor aggravated the symptoms of such infection. However, studies conducted later have shown that COVID-19 infected pregnant women were at a higher risk for obstetric complications, required more mechanical ventilation and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, and had a higher mortality rates compared to non-infected expectants. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, in collaboration with the Department of Radiodiagnosis, ESIC Medical College and hospital between April 2020 and December 2021. All pregnant women who were tested positive for COVID-19 infection, irrespective of symptoms at the time of or after admission, who delivered at our center and who consented were included in the study. Results: Out of the 4127 deliveries conducted during the study period, 164 (3.97%) were tested COVID-19 positive. In our study, 24/164(14.6%), 22/164(13.4%), 14/164(8.5%) had hypothyroidism, hypertension and gestational diabetes respectively. Results of maternal outcomes showed missed abortions in 1.8% study women, ectopic pregnancy in 1.2%, preterm delivery in 9.4%, and prelabour rupture of membranes in 12.4% women . 5/164 (3%) women had Intrauterine fetal death at admission and 4.8% required ICU admissions. There was one maternal death reported in our study. Conclusion: Most of the instances that were reported did not show evidence of maternal-fetal transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, although one newborn who was kept apart from the mother for 36 hours after delivery tested positive for the virus using qRT-PCR. It is necessary to closely monitor pregnancies with COVID-19 and take precautions against newborn infection.