The “scar” of a pandemic: cumulative incidence of COVID‐19 during the first trimester of pregnancy

Cosma, Stefano; Borella, Fulvio; Carosso, Andrea; Sciarrone, Andrea; Cusato, Jessica; Corcione, Silvia; Mengozzi, Giulio; Preti, Mario; Katsaros, Dionyssios; Di Perri, Giovanni; Benedetto, Chiara

Congenitally‐ or perinatally‐acquired viral infections can be harmful to the fetus but data are limited about prevalence and outcomes of COVID‐19 disease during the first trimester of pregnancy. We report epidemiologic data from a study investigating a cohort of women who became pregnant just before or during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We recruited 138 consecutive pregnant women attending for first trimester screening (11‐13 weeks of gestation) at Sant'Anna Hospital, Turin, Piedmont, Italy, during the plateau and the falling phase of the COVID‐19 epidemic curve. Patients were tested for SARS‐CoV‐2 IgM/IgG antibody levels and SARS‐CoV‐2 detection in sera and nasopharyngeal swab samples. COVID‐19 cumulative incidence during the first trimester was of 10.1% with high prevalence of asymptomatic patients (42.8%). Similar to the course of the disease in non pregnant adults, 80‐90% of infections were not severe. The prevalence of reported symptoms was four‐fold higher in SARS‐CoV‐2 positive patients (57%) than in those negative (13%) (p<0.001), suggesting that direct self‐testing should open doors to confirmatory testing for COVID‐19. Our findings support the need for COVID‐19 screening in early pregnancy in epidemic areas to plan materno‐fetal health surveillance programs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.