Treatment and Outcomes of COVID-19 Infection in Pregnant Women: Systematic Review of Cases Reported in Europe.

Publication date: May 27, 2025

Background/Objectives: The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 in March 2020. May 2023 was the month that ended the global pandemic. Pregnant females with COVID-19 are less likely to be symptomatic than non-pregnant patients, with nearly three-quarters being without symptoms. According to previous studies, even if somebody develops symptoms, they are usually mild, most commonly coughing (41%), fever (40%), and dyspnea (21%). Our study aims to search the literature systematically, especially case series and case reports published in Europe, and to summarize results about the kind of COVID-19 therapy in pregnant women and about outcomes in mothers and newborns. Methods: Our systematic review was registered at the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) with CRD42024566838. We searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, and Serbian Citation Index (SCIndeks). In this study, case reports or case series with open, complete text that included full clinical records of the individuals identified with infection in pregnancy, thought to be caused by COVID-19, were used. Case series or case reports were eliminated if they (1) did not contain a full clinical report for every patient, or (2) included an individual who suffered from another viral infection other than COVID-19, so the clinical course and the outcome could not be precisely defined. We evaluated reporting bias and attrition bias. Results: Our study included 32 published studies (eight case series and 24 case reports) that included 56 individual cases. The oldest patient was 50 years old, and the youngest was 19 years old. The most common symptom initially was dry cough (n = 23; 41%), followed by fever (n = 21; 37%) and dyspnea (n = 10; 17%). In three patients, a lower level of thrombocytes was reported, with the lowest level of 86 cD7 10. The most frequently used drugs in pregnant women with COVID-19 infection were azithromycin, lopinavir/ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine, as well as corticosteroids. Twenty-two patients were on mechanical ventilation. After all this reported therapy, ten women died, as well as seven newborns. Conclusions: From our results, we can conclude that mechanical ventilation correlates with cesarean section performed more frequently, as well as with a higher mortality rate of neonates. There are no significant data related to transplacental transmission of the virus. Generally, mortality in our group of patients (mothers) was 17%, which is similar to the general population death from COVID-19 infection.

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Concepts Keywords
Crd42024566838 COVID-19 infection
Dyspnea newborns
Google outcome
Mothers pregnant women
Viral treatment

Semantics

Type Source Name
disease MESH COVID-19
disease MESH Infection
disease MESH dyspnea
disease MESH viral infection
disease MESH clinical course
disease IDO symptom
drug DRUGBANK Azithromycin
drug DRUGBANK Lopinavir
drug DRUGBANK Ritonavir
drug DRUGBANK Hydroxychloroquine
drug DRUGBANK Pentaerythritol tetranitrate
disease MESH death
drug DRUGBANK Coenzyme M
disease MESH morbidity
pathway REACTOME Immune System
disease MESH gravidity
disease MESH overweight
disease MESH comorbidity
disease MESH liver diseases
disease MESH mental illnesses
disease MESH cardiovascular disease
disease MESH over treatment
drug DRUGBANK Methionine
disease IDO country
disease IDO bacteria
disease IDO blood
disease MESH Pneumonia
drug DRUGBANK Ezogabine
drug DRUGBANK Tazobactam
drug DRUGBANK Clindamycin
drug DRUGBANK Meropenem
drug DRUGBANK Amikacin
drug DRUGBANK Vancomycin
drug DRUGBANK Piperacillin
drug DRUGBANK Teicoplanin
drug DRUGBANK Cefotaxime
drug DRUGBANK Spiramycin
drug DRUGBANK Sultamicillin
drug DRUGBANK Cefuroxime
drug DRUGBANK Oseltamivir
drug DRUGBANK Favipiravir
disease MESH anemia
disease MESH gestational diabetes
disease MESH celiac disease
disease MESH atrial septal defect
disease MESH congenital adrenal hyperplasia
disease MESH hypothyroidism
disease MESH tachycardia
disease MESH tachypnea
drug DRUGBANK Meticillin
disease MESH acute respiratory distress syndrome
disease MESH cytokine storm
drug DRUGBANK Nonoxynol-9
disease MESH coronavirus infection
disease MESH obesity
disease MESH diabetes mellitus
disease MESH hypertension
disease MESH preterm infants
disease MESH malaria
pathway KEGG Malaria
disease MESH immune disorders
disease MESH systemic lupus erythematosus
pathway KEGG Systemic lupus erythematosus
disease MESH malformations
disease MESH HIV infection
pathway REACTOME HIV Infection
disease MESH inflammation
disease MESH maternal death
drug DRUGBANK Esomeprazole
disease MESH Mother to Child Transmission
disease MESH Pregnancy Outcomes
disease MESH Peripheral facial paralysis
disease MESH Edema
disease MESH ketoacidosis
disease MESH eclampsia
disease MESH neurological manifestations
drug DRUGBANK Oxygen
drug DRUGBANK (S)-Des-Me-Ampa
disease MESH Severe acute respiratory syndrome
disease MESH Gestational weight gain
disease IDO history
drug DRUGBANK Spinosad
disease MESH birth defects
disease MESH critically ill

Original Article

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