Clinical manifestation, outcomes in pregnant women with COVID-19 and the possibility of vertical transmission: A systematic review of the current data

Abstract

To assess perinatal outcomes of COVID-19 infections during pregnancy and the possibility of vertical transmission. An analysis was performed using Stata 15.0, and Q-test was used to evaluate the heterogeneity of the included studies. The most common symptoms were found to be fever (64.78%), cough (59.81%) and shortness of breath or dyspnea (23.86%). Of this 88.73% patients demonstrated typical COVID-19 signs on chest CT or X-ray. Intubation was carried out in 35.87% of patients, and 4.95% of mothers were admitted to the intensive care unit, where the rate of maternal death was <0.01% and that of premature delivery was 25.32%. The rate of the birth weight being <2,500 g was 30.65% and that of Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission was 24.41%. Positive nasopharynx swabs or sputum from newborns was <0.01%. Pregnant patients with COVID-19 most commonly presented with fever, cough, shortness of breath and dyspnea, most of which possessed imaging manifestations. The risk of intubation and admission to intensive care unit were high. The risk of premature delivery was higher, leading to a high risk of NICU admission and low neonatal birthweight. Vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from mother to child was found to be unlikely.