Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection During Pregnancy In China: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Mingzhu Yin; Lijuan Zhang; Guangtong Deng; Chaofei Han; Minxue Shen; Hongyin Sun; Furong Zeng; Wei Zhang; Lan Chen; Qingqing Luo; Dujuan Yao; Min Wu; Shihuan Yu; Hui Chen; David Baud; Xiang Chen

Additionally, pregnant women had insidious and atypical symptoms which might increase the risk of misdiagnosis. Fever was the most common symptom in the general population, as previously reported (over 80%). 28, 29 In our study, we found the similar pattern of symptoms in pregnant women, while the proportion of fever in pregnant women was far lower than that in non-pregnant women (54·8% vs. 87·5%, p = 0·006). Temperature screening has been the most proposed and useful method to identify the suspected patients in population. Thus, a low proportion of fever might increase the risk of missing the suspected patients in pregnant women. Furthermore, five (16·1%) pregnant women who were diagnosed by laboratory confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 did not have any initial symptoms but had the history of exposure, and one (3·2%) pregnant woman had an initial symptom of diarrhea. Importantly, chest CT scan of all patients showed moderate to severe inflammation in lungs. These findings plainly indicated that it was not enough to screen pregnant women for COVID-19 based solely on clinical symptoms. Monitoring, early detection and diagnosis are urgent and necessary for pregnant women, especially for those with a history of exposure.