Medwave (Dec 2021)

Clinical and epidemiological characterization in the follow-up of newborns with COVID-19: a descriptive study

  • Carmen Dávila-Aliaga,
  • Elsa Torres-Marcos,
  • Rafael Paucar-Zegarra,
  • Rosmary Hinojosa-Pérez,
  • Ylia Espinoza-Vivas,
  • Elina Mendoza-Ibáñez,
  • Diego Marín,
  • Marcos Espínola-Sánchez,
  • Jonathan De la Cruz-Dávila,
  • Pedro Arango-Ochante

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5867/medwave.2021.11.002141
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 21, no. 11
pp. e002141 – e002141

Abstract

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Introduction COVID-19 disease affects newborns, but its middle and long-term effects are still unclear. Objective To describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics and follow-up of newborns infected with SARS-CoV-2. Methods An observational and descriptive study. We included newborns with SARS-CoV-2 positive RT-PCR born from SARS-CoV-2 seropositive mothers. Delivery and newborn care were provided at the 'Instituto Nacional Materno Perinatal' from Peru between June 1 and September 30, 2020. Perinatal information was collected from medical records. Remote follow-up and face-to-face evaluations gathered epidemiological and clinical information, in addition to serological and RT-PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2. Descriptive statistics were used for analysis. Results During the study period, 4733 neonates were born at the institution. We found that 1488 (31.4%) were born from seropositive for SARS-CoV-2 mothers. Finally, we included the 34 (2.3%) newborns with positive RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2. Regarding the included newborns, 29.4% were delivered by cesarean section, 26.5% had low birth weight, 11.8% were preterm, 26.5% were hospitalized, and one died. Twenty-eight had a remote follow-up, and 18 also had a face-to-face follow-up. A total of 64.3% were exclusively breastfed, 28.6% were mixed breastfed, and 7.1% used a substitute formula. The face-to-face evaluation was performed between one and four months of chronological age. We found that 100% had negative control RT-PCR test for COVID-19, 38.9% had a negative serological test (IgM, IgG), and 61.1% positive IgG. Conclusions Neonatal SARS-CoV-2 infection is rare, and most infected infants are asymptomatic. Vaginal delivery, breastfeeding, and joint isolation did not related with complications during hospital care. Infants under remote and in-person follow-up showed favorable clinical evolution during the study period.

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