COVID-19 pneumonia and pregnancy; a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The new SARS-CoV-2 originated from Wuhan, China is spreading rapidly worldwide. A number of SARS-CoV-2 positive pregnant women have been reported. However, more information is still needed on the pregnancy outcome and the neonates regarding COVID-19 pneumonia.

Material and methods: A systematic search was done and nine articles on COVID-19 pneumonia and SARS-CoV-2 positive pregnant women were extracted. Some maternal-fetal characteristics were extracted to be included in the meta-analysis.

Results: The present meta-analysis was conducted on 87 SARS-CoV-2 positive pregnant women. Almost 65% of the patients reported a history of exposure to an infected person, 78% suffered from mild or moderate COVID-19, 99.9% had successful termination, 86% had cough, and 68% had fever (p = .022 and p < .001). The overall proportions of vertical transmission, still birth, and neonatal death were zero, 0.002, and, 0.002, respectively (p = 1, p = .86, and p = .89, respectively). The means of the first- and fifth-minute Apgar scores were 8.86 and 9, respectively (p < .001 for both). The confounding role of history of underlying diseases with an estimated overall proportion of 33% (p = .03) resulted in further investigations due to sample size limitation. A natural history of COVID-19 pneumonia in the adult population was presented, as well.

Conclusion: Currently, no evidence of vertical transmission has been suggested at least in late pregnancy. No hazards have been detected for fetuses or neonates. Although pregnant women are at an immunosuppressive state due to the physiological changes during pregnancy, most patients suffered from mild or moderate COVID-19 pneumonia with no pregnancy loss, proposing a similar pattern of the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 pneumonia to that of other adult populations.