An Experience with Management of COVID-19 Positive Pregnant Patients in a Tertiary Care Institute

ABSTRACT

Background: The new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a worldwide pandemic. Concerns have been raised about the influence of SARS-CoV-2 infections on pregnant mothers and their fetuses, and patient care in the setting of COVID-19 is difficult. As a result, the current study was conducted to determine the outcomes of pregnant females with COVID-19 infection and their obstetric care of COVID-19. Materials and methods: The study enrolled 8622 pregnant women from April 1st, 2020 to September 30th, 2020 at Lokmanya Tilak Medical College and Sion Hospital, a tertiary care hospital. There were 455 women who tested positive for COVID, whereas the remaining 8167 patients tested negative for COVID. The results obtained were compared in both groups. Results: The percentage of pregnant women who tested positive for COVID was determined to be 5.27%. Most patients were delivered by LSCS in the COVID-positive group (49.45%) than in the COVID-negative group (43.95%) (p >0.05). Among 455 COVID-positive women, 401 were asymptomatic, whereas 54 patients showed COVID-19 symptoms like fever and cough (12%). All patients with mild symptoms were adequately handled with a multivitamin supplement, high-protein diet, fluid-electrolyte balance, regular vitals monitoring, and prophylactic antibiotic therapy. In total, 23 women were admitted to the intensive care unit after developing severe COVID-19 pneumonia with ARDS. The risk of maternal mortality in COVID-positive patients was somewhat higher 16 (3.51%) than in COVID-negative pregnant women 39 (0.47%) (p <0.05). In the majority of neonates in both the COVID-positive and-negative women, Apgar score was normal 7–10, and birth weight between 2.6 and 3 kg. Low Apgar scores (0–3) were seen in 6 (1.43%) of COVID-positive mothers’ neonates and 197 (2.60%) of COVID-negative mothers’ neonates. Overall, the majority of the newborns were healthy. Swabs from seven neonates were first determined to be positive, but were retested on day five and proved to be negative. Conclusions: In times of global pandemic, quick and judicious management of COVID-19 positive pregnant women is a critical notion for safe motherhood and healthy children. However, our findings reveal that COVID infection has no substantial influence on maternal and fetal outcomes in pregnancy, and there is no indication of vertical transmission of the COVID-19 infection, but long-term monitoring of these newborns is suggested.