Maternal and perinatal outcomes of pregnancy associated with COVID-19: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

INTRODUCTION This study explored maternal and infant outcomes in the periods of pregnancy, birth and the postpartum, in women with COVID-19. METHODS After PROSPERO registration (CRD42020191106), scanning for the studies was carried out over the period 5–15 May 2020 in the PubMed, Science Direct, EBSCO and Web of Science databases with the search string: [‘COVID-19’ AND (‘pregnancy’ OR ‘pregnant’ OR ‘maternal outcomes’ OR ‘infant outcomes’ OR ‘fetal outcomes’ OR ‘birth’)]. Studies reporting maternal and perinatal outcomes of pregnant women with COVID-19 were included. Data were extracted independently by two researchers and combined with meta-analysis and pooled analysis. RESULTS The 54 studies included in this analysis contained data on 517 pregnant women diagnosed with COVID-19 and 385 infants. Of the pregnant women, 18% had gone into preterm labor and 77% had given birth by caesarean. Of the newborns, 19% had low birth weight, 14% had fetal distress, and 24% were admitted into the neonatal intensive care unit. Nine maternal and eight baby mortalities were reported in the studies. CONCLUSIONS The study revealed that COVID-19 in pregnant women appeared to be negative maternal and infant outcomes, with mortalities as well.