Health care of COVID-19 positive pregnant women at the Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics of the University Clinical Center of Republic of Srpska

Abstract

Introduction. Corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by heavy acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) and represents the example of fast spreading disease. There has been a rapid increase of new and fatal cases since the virus was discovered in Wuhan, China, at the beginning of December 2019. Pregnant women are at a higher risk for the infection SARS-CoV2 and are prone to developing more severe clinical picture. Pregnant women with COVID-19 pneumonia mostly show different clinical pictures in comparison to the rest of the population. Methods. There have been observed 184 COVID-19 positive pregnant women which were hospitalized in the period since the pandemic begun in Republic of Srpska. Included patients were treated at the University Clinical Center of Republic of Srpska and referred to this center from different parts of Republic of Srpska. The study was conducted from March 5th 2020 to March 15th 2022. Eight outcome parameters were observed in this study. Results. During the observation period a total of 184 COVID-19 positive pregnant women were included in the study. An average age of patients was 30,63 years. An average duration of hospital stay was 8,90 days. A median of a gestation week of pregnant women was 37,5 weeks. The total number of patients in need of an oxygen support until a delivery was 18. All 18 pregnant women who were on an oxygen support delivered over a cesarean section. Conclusion. COVID-19 brought a multitude of changes in clinical practice. However, COVID-19 is not an indication for a delivery change, as there are no evidences for favorization of one method of a delivery to the other one. A transmission of the infection from a mother to a child is possible but the cases of transplacental transmission remain scarce.

Keywords

• SARS-CoV2
• COVID-19
• pregnancy
• pneumonia
• newborns