The prevalence of symptomatic COVID-19 infection among pregnant women and its relationship with pregnancy outcomes: a retrospective review of the medical records in North East Iran.

INTRODUCTION

The impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy outcomes is not well known. Reviewing clinical records is a useful way to answer clinical questions. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of symptomatic COVID-19 Infection among pregnant women and its relationship with pregnancy outcomes in North East Iran by reviewing medical records.

MATERIALS & METHODS: The present study is a retrospective review of the medical records of Iranian pregnant women covered by the comprehensive health service centers of Mashhad, Iran, using the consensus-based sampling. The data was related to 100,000 pregnant women, who was monitored in the screening program of pregnant mothers during the period of COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 to November 2021, and recorded in the electronic health record dataset of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences called as SINA system. A self-structured and valid checklist containing demographic characteristics, medical records, nutritional patterns, data on pregnancy-neonatal outcomes and data related to COVID-19 was used to collect data. Data analysis was carried out by IBM SPSS software version 25 using Chi-square and Independent t-test.

FINDINGS

Out of 100,000 pregnant women, 2,345 (2.345%) were infected with COVID-19. There was a significant difference between healthy and infected pregnant women in terms of age, underlying diseases, diabetes, type of delivery, and birth weight (P < 0.001). Infected pregnant women were older, had underlying diseases and diabetes, underwent cesarean section and their new born had lower birth weight. There were no significant differences in chronic hypertension, anemia, lifestyle and other pregnancy outcomes including gestational age at delivery and maternal death between the two groups.

CONCLUSION

COVID-19 during pregnancy may be a disease with significant consequences for the pregnancy outcome. Providing comprehensive care and vaccination for pregnant women is important and reduces the possibility of adverse consequences for the mother and her baby.