ABSTRACT
Background and AimsThe authors analyse the anaesthetic approach in pregnants infected (PI) with COVID-19 admitted in a tertiary maternity (TM) during 12 months. They report and compare data from three-month period and data from not infected pregnants (NIP).MethodsDescriptive and retrospective observational study, with no need to ethical approval according to local committee. Data from a sample of 2288 pregnants (April 1,2020 – March 31,2021). Variables and their associations were analysed with statistical tests using the SPSS tool.Results2.8% of pregnants were infected with COVID-19. 11% of these were admitted in the 1st quarter, 2% in 2nd, 29% in 3rd and 58% in 4th.The anaesthetic approach was, with statistically significant, different between PI and PNI(p<,001). Use of neuraxial labour analgesia/anaesthesia in PI increased (42,9% -1st vs 65,8% -4th). General anaesthesia decreased (10,5% -1st vs 5,3% -4th). Comparing deliveries, there was a statistically significant difference(p=0.01): 38% of births were caesarean section (CS) in PI vs 23% in PNI. In PI there was a decrease of 8,7% in CS between the 1st and 4th quarter. The need for emergency surgery (ES) had statistically significant difference(p=0.02), 26.2% of ES in PI vs 15.1% in PNI. In PI there was no statistically significant difference(p>0,05) when comparing the occurrence of ES in the different quarters.ConclusionsAn increase of neuraxial labour analgesia/anaesthesia and decrease in GA was verified, despite the higher percentage of ES in PI. This can be related to increase in experience and knowledge, demostrating that neuraxial thecniques are safe/recommended in pregnants infected with COVID-19.