Clinical characteristics and sociodemographic factors associated with COVID-19 infection in pregnant women in a maternal and children's public hospital.

Rodriguez Huaman, Yda; Contreras, Pavel J; Lozada-Urbano, Michelle

Objective To describe the clinical characteristics and sociodemographic factors associated with COVID-19 among pregnant women in a maternal and children's hospital in Lima, Peru. Methods Quantitative observational study. The population under study consisted of pregnant women who attended an emergency room and had a COVID-19 test. These women were assessed for age, gestational age, place of origin, occupation, education, marital status, number of children, previous body mass index, gestational body mass index, tetanus vaccination, prenatal controls, and hemoglobin. After bivariate analysis, a generalized linear regression model was applied. Results We included 200 women aged between 18 and 34 years (84.5%) with a median gestational age of 36 weeks. More than half were from Lima (52.5%), most were housewives (79%), had high school education (71.9%), and had a cohabiting marital status (60%). The COVID-19 test positivity was 31.5% by rapid tests. Pregestational body mass index assessment showed that 36.7% of normal weight, 38,1% of overweight, and 30.3% of obese pregnant women had COVID-19 infection. 39.7% of patients with hemoglobin levels greater than or equal to 11 g/dL, 21.2% of patients with values between 10 and 10.9 g/dL, and 20% of patients with values between 7 and 9.9 g/dL had COVID-19 infection. The prevalence ratio (with a 95% confidence interval) found that cohabitation was associated with a lower risk of having COVID-19 infection in pregnant women (prevalence ratio: 0.41, p < 0.001). Conclusion Cohabiting pregnant women had a lower risk of COVID-19 infection compared with other marital statuses. Further research is needed to evaluate COVID-19 associated factors in pregnant women and possible sociodemographic or economic factors behind cohabiting marital status association among this population.