Vaginal delivery in SARS-CoV-2-infected pregnant women in Israel: a multicenter prospective analysis

  • Amihai Rottenstreich
  • , Abraham Tsur
  • , Nava Braverman
  • , Doron Kabiri
  • , Shay Porat
  • , Shmuel Benenson
  • , Yonatan Oster
  • , Hadas Allouche Kam
  • , Asnat Walfisch
  • , Yossi Bart
  • , Raanan Meyer
  • , Shirlee Jaffe Lifshitz
  • , Uri Amikam
  • , Tal Biron-Shental
  • , Gal Cohen
  • , Yael Sciaky-Tamir
  • , Inbar Ben Shachar
  • , Yoav Yinon*
  • , Benjamin Reubinoff*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Key Message: Among SARS-CoV-2-infected mothers, vaginal delivery rates were high and associated with favorable outcomes with no cases of neonatal COVID-19. Purpose: To investigate the mode of delivery and its impact on immediate neonatal outcome in SARS-CoV-2-infected women. Methods: A prospective study following pregnant women diagnosed with COVID-19 who delivered between March 15th and July 4th in seven university affiliated hospitals in Israel. Results: A total of 52 women with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 delivered in the participating centers during the study period. The median gestational age at the time of delivery was 38 weeks, with 16 (30.8%) cases complicated by spontaneous preterm birth. Forty-three women (82.7%) underwent a trial of labor. The remaining 9 women underwent pre-labor cesarean delivery mostly due to obstetric indications, whereas one woman with a critical COVID-19 course underwent urgent cesarean delivery due to maternal deterioration. Among those who underwent a trial of labor (n = 43), 39 (90.7%) delivered vaginally, whereas 4 (9.3%) cases resulted in cesarean delivery. Neonatal RT-PCR nasopharyngeal swabs tested negative in all cases, and none of the infants developed pneumonia. No maternal and neonatal deaths were encountered. Conclusions: In this prospective study among SARS-CoV-2-infected mothers, vaginal delivery rates were high and associated with favorable outcomes with no cases of neonatal COVID-19. Our findings underscore that delivery management among SARS-CoV-2-infected mothers should be based on obstetric indications and may potentially reduce the high rates of cesarean delivery previously reported in this setting.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1401-1405
Number of pages5
JournalArchives of Gynecology and Obstetrics
Volume303
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2021
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Delivery
  • Outcomes
  • Pregnancy
  • Vaginal

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