COVID-19 in Pregnant Women: A Case Series

Abstract

Objective: To examine the disease course in COVID-19 affected pregnant women. Methods: A series of pregnant women with positive COVID-19 test result treated in a dedicated ward at a Teaching Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, was collated between April and June 2020. A predesigned proforma was used for data collection concerning clinical characteristics, obstetric outcomes and vertical transmission to the newborn. Continuous variables were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD) and median with inter-quartile range. Categorical variables were expressed as frequency and percentages. The data was analyzed by using SPSS version 24. Results: There were 26 COVID-19 positive pregnant women with mean gestational age of 31± 8.8 weeks and mean age of 27±4 years. Of these, 10 (38.4%) were asymptomatic. Among symptomatic women 14/16 (87.5%) suffered fever and 11/16 (68.75%) had cough. One case of severe pneumonia experienced mortality. Of the 14 women delivered, 11 (78.5%) had caesarean section. There were no cases of miscarriage, spontaneous preterm labor, intrauterine demise, neonatal death or vertical transmission of COVID-19. Conclusion: The majority of pregnant women with COVID-19 suffered mild disease. Pregnancy did not appear to aggravate or change the course of COVID-19, nor did COVID-19 appear to increase the risk of obstetric complications.