Assessment of fetal growth and anomalies in the era of COVID-19 pandemic: an Egyptian pilot study

Emad Eltemamy; Sameh Salama; Sondos M Salem; Mazen Abdel-Rasheed; Ehab Salama; Sherif Elsirgany; Tamer Elnahas

doi:10.1186/s43043-021-00075-2

Assessment of fetal growth and anomalies in the era of COVID-19 pandemic: an Egyptian pilot study

Middle East Fertil Soc J. 2021;26(1):32. doi: 10.1186/s43043-021-00075-2. Epub 2021 Aug 28.

Authors

Emad Eltemamy¹, Sameh Salama², Sondos M Salem², Mazen Abdel-Rasheed², Ehab Salama², Sherif Elsirgany², Tamer Elnahas²

Affiliations

¹ Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
² Reproductive Health and Family Planning Department, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt.

Abstract

Background: Many issues need to be studied regarding pregnant women during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection pandemic. The aim of this study was to assess fetal growth, fetal well-being, and any observed gross anomalies that may follow SARS-CoV-2 infection in Egyptian pregnant women. During fetal anomaly scan at 22 weeks, we compared 30 pregnant women with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection at 6‑12 weeks of gestation (group A) with 60 pregnant women (group B) who had no history of SARS-CoV-2. Then, we followed them on 28 and 34 weeks of gestation with fetal biometry and Doppler study.

Results: Our results revealed no significant difference between both groups regarding fetal biometry, estimated fetal weight, amniotic fluid index, Doppler scan, and gross anomaly scan throughout all visits.

Conclusion: According to the results of our pilot study, SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy was not found to increase the risk of fetal growth restriction or possible fetal gross anomalies. Nevertheless, larger-scale studies are needed to confirm those findings. Perhaps, post-SARS-CoV-2 infection pregnancies may run an uncomplicated course regarding fetal parameters.

Keywords: Anomalies; COVID-19 pandemic; Fetal growth.