Researchers from Kaiser Permanente Southern California Report Findings in COVID-19 (Association Between Sars-cov-2 Infection and Adverse Perinatal Outcomes In a Large Health Maintenance Organization): Coronavirus – COVID-19

2024 MAR 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators discuss new findings in Coronavirus - COVID-19. According to news reporting from Pasadena, California, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “This study aimed to examine whether severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection during pregnancy is associated with increased odds of perinatal complications and viral transmission to the infant. A retrospective cohort study of women who delivered at Kaiser Permanente Southern California hospitals (April 6, 2020-February 28, 2021) was performed using data extracted from electronic health records (EHRs).”

Financial support for this research came from Kaiser Permanente Southern California Direct Community Benefit funds.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Kaiser Permanente Southern California, “During this time polymerize chain reaction (PCR)-based tests for SARS-CoV-2 was universally offered to all pregnant women at labor and delivery admission, as well as earlier in the pregnancy, if they were displaying symptoms consistent with SARS-CoV-2 infection or a possible exposure to the virus. Adjusted odds ratio (aOR) was used to estimate the strength of associations between positive test results and adverse perinatal outcomes. Of 35,123 women with a singleton pregnancy, 2,203 (6%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection with 596 (27%) testing positive during the first or second trimester and 1,607 (73%) during the third trimester. Women testing positive were younger than those who tested negative (29.7 [5.4] vs. 31.1 [5.3] years; mean [standard deviation (SD)]; p< .001). The SARS-CoV-2 infection tended to increase the odds of an abnormal fetal heart rate pattern (aOR: 1.10; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.00, 1.21; p = 0.058), spontaneous preterm birth (aOR: 1.28; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.58; p = 0.024), congenital anomalies (aOR: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.15, 2.50; p = 0.008), and maternal intensive care unit admission at delivery (aOR: 7.44; 95% CI: 4.06, 13.62; p< 0.001) but not preeclampsia/eclampsia (aOR: 1.14; 95% CI: 0.98, 1.33; p = 0.080). Eighteen (0.8%) neonates of mothers who tested positive also had a positive SARS-CoV-2 test after 24 hours of birth, but all were asymptomatic during the neonatal period. These findings suggest that prenatal SARS-CoV-2 infection increases the odds of some adverse perinatal outcomes.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The likelihood of vertical transmission from the mother to the fetus was low (0.3%), suggesting that pregnancy complications resulting from SARS-CoV-2 infection pose more risk to the baby than transplacental viral transmission.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Association Between Sars-cov-2 Infection and Adverse Perinatal Outcomes In a Large Health Maintenance Organization. American Journal of Perinatology, 2024;41(02):199-207. American Journal of Perinatology can be contacted at: Thieme Medical Publ Inc, 333 Seventh Ave, New York, NY 10001, USA. (Thieme - www.thieme.com)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Darios Getahun, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Dept. of Research and Evaluation, 100 South Los Robles Ave, 2ND Floor, Pasadena, CA 91101, United States. Additional authors for this research include Jiaxiao M. Shi, David Braun, David A. Sacks, Kristi Reynolds, Vicki Y. Chiu, Morgan R. Peltier, Lawrence D. Lurvey, Anthony E. Burgos, Alex Fong, Adrian H. Lopez, Neha Trivedi, Lyn Yasumura, Marielle Nguyen, Marianna Volodarskiy and Michael J. Fassett.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0042-1749666. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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