Comparison of early postnatal clinical outcomes of newborns born to pregnant women with COVID-19: a case-control study.

BACKGROUND

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has infected millions of people, including pregnant women and newborns and caused many deaths. Studies examining the effects of COVID-19 infection in pregnancy have mostly focused on maternal outcomes and there are limited data on neonatal outcomes.

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to compare the early postnatal period clinical outcomes of newborns born to pregnant women with and without COVID-19.

METHODS

A retrospective case-control study was used to compare the clinical characteristics of newborns born to pregnant women with and without COVID-19. This study was conducted between 11 March 2020 and 11 March 2021 at Denizli State Hospital, Turkey. This study included 202 newborns selected with a nonprobability method. The clinical records and laboratory results of 202 newborns were reviewed by applying a retrospective questionnaire. Neonatal outcomes were compared between the groups.

RESULTS

There were 101 newborns born to pregnant women with COVID-19 in the case group and 101 without COVID-19 in the control group in the study. A considerably higher rate of newborns born to pregnant women with COVID-19 had cesarean delivery (79.2 versus 35.6%,  < .001), premature birth (28.7 versus 10.9%,  = .001), low birth weight (15.8 versus 6.9%, = .046), neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) (37.6 versus 19.8%,  = .005), oxygen need (19.8 versus 37.6,  = .005), and neonatal intensive care unit admission (10.9 versus 37.6%,  = .001). Breastfeeding (1.0 versus 67.3%,  < .001) and nutrition with breast milk rates (33.7 versus 80.2%,  < .001) of newborns born to pregnant women with COVID-19 were significantly lower. The results of 101 newborns who received nasopharyngeal swab samples for COVID-19 were negative.

CONCLUSION

Newborns born to pregnant women with COVID-19 were more likely to experience preterm birth, cesarean delivery, low birth weight, neonatal RDS, oxygen demand, need for intensive care, and breastfeeding problems. There was no vertical contamination according to the nasopharyngeal swab samples of the newborns.