Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and pregnancy: a systematic review

To summarize currently available evidence on maternal, fetal, and neonatal outcomes of pregnant women infected with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

PubMed, Google Scholar, CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP, and CBMdisc were searched for studies reporting maternal, fetal, and neonatal outcomes of women infected with COVID-19 published from 1 January 2020 to 26 March 2020. The protocol was registered with the Open Science Framework (DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/34ZAV).

In total, 18 studies comprising 114 pregnant women were included in the review. Fever (87.5%) and cough (53.8%) were the most commonly reported symptoms, followed by fatigue (22.5%), diarrhea (8.8%), dyspnea (11.3%), sore throat (7.5%), and myalgia (16.3%). The majority of patients (91%) had cesarean delivery due to various indications. In terms of fetal and neonatal outcomes, stillbirth (1.2%), neonatal death (1.2%), preterm birth (21.3%), low birth weight (<2500 g, 5.3%), fetal distress (10.7%), and neonatal asphyxia (1.2%) were reported. There are reports of neonatal infection, but no direct evidence of intrauterine vertical transmission has been found.

The clinical characteristics of pregnant women with COVID-19 are similar to those of non-pregnant adults. Fetal and neonatal outcomes appear good in most cases, but available data only include pregnant women infected in their third trimesters. Further studies are needed to ascertain long-term outcomes and potential intrauterine vertical transmission.