Impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy and fetal outcomes in women with multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND

In the general population, maternal COVID-19 is associated with worse maternal and fetal outcomes. Two previous studies have assessed COVID-19 clinical outcomes in pregnant women with multiple sclerosis (MS), but there are no data about maternal and fetal outcomes.

OBJECTIVES

In this multicenter study, we aimed to assess maternal and fetal outcomes in pregnant women with MS and COVID-19 infection.

METHODS

We recruited pregnant patients with MS who contracted COVID-19 and were followed up in Italian and Turkish Centers, during 2020-2022. A control group was extracted from a previous Italian cohort. Associations between group (COVID-19 or healthy patients) and clinical outcomes (maternal complications, fetal malformations, and spontaneous abortion) were investigated with a weighted logistic regression where propensity score-based inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) approach was applied for adjusting for difference in baseline confounders.

RESULTS

In the multivariable analysis, COVID-19 during pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of maternal complications (odd ratio (OR) = 2.12; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.32-3.48; = 0.002), while it was not associated with higher risk of spontaneous abortion and fetal malformations.

CONCLUSION

Our data indicate that COVID-19 during pregnancy increases the risk of maternal complications, while it seems to have no significant impact on fetal outcomes.