Clinical outcome in newborns of perinatally COVID-19 infected women.

OBJECTIVE: Maternal COVID-19 infection during pregnancy has been associated with adverse neonatal outcomes, such as prematurity and neonatal morbidity. Those adverse events are mainly attributed to maternal factors, rather than to the neonatal infection itself. Our aim is to add our experience and present the neonatal outcome of neonates born to mothers with perinatal SARS-CoV-2 infection. METHODS: This is a prospective case-control study with data from two Academic Tertiary Referral Hospitals in Greece. Electronic records of all births from SARS-CoV-2 positive mothers between March 2020 and April 2021 were analyzed. Demographic data, the severity of maternal COVID-19 disease, gestational age (GA), mode of delivery, birth weight (BW), need for resuscitation and/or supplemental oxygen and duration of hospitalization were recorded. A comparison with 2:1 matched neonates according to sex, GA, and BW born to SARS-CoV-2 negative mothers during the same period was performed. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U test were used for categorical and non-categorical variables respectively. RESULTS: A total of eighty-one neonates were born to SARS-CoV-2 positive mothers during this period. Forty-three percent of pregnant mothers were asymptomatic. Median GA and median BW were 38 weeks (Interquantile range (IQR): 36-39 weeks) and 2940 gr (IQR: 2560-3340 gr) respectively. Prematurity was observed in 24.7% of the cases. Only 2 (2.4%) neonates were PCR positive after delivery. SARS-CoV-2 positive women were more likely to undergo Cesarean section. APGAR score at 5 min and the need for resuscitation did not differ between the two groups. In comparison with the control group, neonates born to SARS-CoV-2 positive mothers presented with gastrointestinal symptoms (53.6% vs 5.1%, p-value= <.001) and hospitalization was longer, mostly due to maternal factors. CONCLUSION: In our study neonatal positivity was limited and no vertical transmission was noted. Neonatal outcomes were comparable to the control group. However, the presence of gastrointestinal symptoms in neonates born to PCR-positive women compared to controls needs further investigation.

Hypovitaminosis D in Healthy Pregnant Women and their Newborns in Greece.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work was to evaluate the current vitamin D status in healthy pregnant women and their newborns living in Greece and assess possible associations between 25(OH)D and anthropometric features of their fetuses and newborns. MATERIALS & METHODS: 81 healthy women were monitored during pregnancy. Biochemical markers related to bone metabolism, 25(OH)D and PTH levels were measured in serum samples of mothernewborn pairs at 1st trimester of pregnancy and at delivery in mothers, in cord blood and at the 3rd day of life of newborns. RESULTS: Maternal 25(OH)D levels at the 1st trimester of pregnancy (22.6±9.2ng/ml) were significantly higher than those at delivery (19.2±9.2ng/ml) (p<0.001). Furthermore, umbilical 25(OH)D levels (21.3±9.3ng/ml) were higher than maternal at delivery (p=0.005) and neonatal levels (19.4±10.4 ng/ml) (p=0.021). Only 57.3% of the mothers at the first trimester and 46.7% at delivery as well as 55.8% of the fetuses and 38.5% of the neonates had adequate vitamin D levels (25(OH)D≥30ng/ml). A significant positive correlation was found between fetal femur length at the 22nd week of gestation and maternal 25(ΟΗ)D at the 1st trimester of pregnancy (r=0.36, p=0.048) while body length was significantly higher in newborns whose mothers had sufficient 25(OH)D levels (51.5±2.1cm) compared with those whose mothers had insufficient or deficient 25(OH)D levels at delivery (50.6±2.0cm) (p=0.047). CONCLUSION: The study confirms inadequate levels of vitamin D in pregnant women in Greece associated with inadequate vitamin D levels of their fetuses and newborns.