Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the neonatal outcome of mothers with COVID-19 in King Salman Armed Forces Hospital, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Methods: This was a hospital record-based, retrospective cohort study. The case group included neonates born to mothers who were positive for the COVID-19 virus during pregnancy, whereas the control group included neonates born to mothers who were not infected with the COVID-19 virus during pregnancy. The data were collected from the records and were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).
Results: This study covered the hospital records of 342 women (114 cases and 228 control). The rates of cesarean sections and small for gestational age were significantly higher among the cases compared to the controls (71.1% versus 43.4%, p < 0.001 and 24.6% versus 11.8%, p = 0.003; respectively). The mean birth weight was significantly lower among the cases group (3.0 ± 0.6 versus 3.3 ± 0.6 kg, p = 0.022). Only the case group reported the occurrence of neonatal COVID-19 infection (7.9%, p < 0.001). The study reported only a single case of intrauterine fetal death and one stillbirth in the cases group, but no neonatal deaths (p > 0.05).
Conclusions: Maternal COVID-19 may be associated with undesirable neonatal outcomes. There is a possibility of vertical transmission of COVID-19 from the mother to the neonate, but this cannot be confirmed.
Keywords: cesarean section; covid-19; fetal outcome; mothers; pregnancy outcome.
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