Since the first case of the human coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was announced in Wuhan (December 31, 2019), the virus has already infected more than 30 million people, causing almost millions deaths. Indonesia has become one of the major COVID-19 hotspots in Southeast Asia. Pregnant women with COVID-19 present with unique challenges to the maternal health services in East Java province, particularly in Surabaya. At the beginning of the pandemic, only four referral hospitals in Surabaya were able to handle maternal COVID-19 cases, including the Airlangga University Academic Hospital (RS UNAIR). To date, the effect of COVID-19 on pregnancy remains unclear as the data on this population are limited. Based on the data above, this study aimed to analyze the clinical manifestations and pregnancy outcomes (maternal-fetal) in a prospective cohort of COVID-19 cases admitted at the RS Universitas Airlangga.
This was a prospective cohort study of pregnant women with suspected COVID-19 cases. Participants were divided into the Covid and non-Covid groups based on the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) result. Clinical characteristics, lab results and pregnancy outcomes were compared among both groups.
From a total of 141 pregnant women with suspected COVID-19 during the study period, there were 62 confirmed cases (43.9%) and 79 negative cases (56.1%). The clinical manifestations and laboratory results between the two groups were not statistically different (P>0.05). The OR of maternal death caused by acute respiratory distress syndrome secondary to COVID-19 only was also significantly higher in the COVID-19 group (8.3% vs. 1.3 %; OR, 6.91; 95% CI, 0.79–60.81).
We concluded that clinical manifestations and laboratory results between the infected and non-infected pregnant women groups were not different. However, amid pandemic, COVID-19 has significantly increased the maternal death risks directly or indirectly.
Author: Muhammad Ilham Aldika Akbar, et al
Journal link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8784935/
