Publication:

Study of the clinical profile and outcome of the neonates born to COVID-19 positive mothers: a tertiary care centre experience from western Uttar Pradesh

Background A major concern of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy is its possible effects on newborns. In the context of mother-to-child transmission, some studies have reported that there were no SARS-CoV-2-positive infants born to a cohort of mothers with COVID-19 while others have reported an incidence of as high as 10%. The study is conducted to describe the clinical profile of neonates born to mothers who tested positive for COVID- 19 infection and to determine the association of neonatal COVID 19 status.

Methods This cross sectional study includes neonates born to COVID 19 positive mothers. Neonates born to mothers who were diagnosed before delivery were tested by RT-PCR within 24 h of birth.

Results Out of 120 babies born to COVID positive mothers, 5 newborns (4.2%) were found to be COVID positive, diagnosed through RT-PCR. Among COVID positive babies four out of five were symptomatic (p<0.001) and required respiratory support in any form (p=0.001). All of the COVID positive neonates were discharged, while there was one mortality noted among covid negative babies (0.9%), however there was no statistically significant association between mortality and COVID infection in the neonates (p=0.498).

Conclusions The proportion of covid positive neonates born to COVID-19-positive women were very low (p=4.2). The study supports milder manifestation in COVID-19 infected neonates and risk of transmission of COVID-19 infection from mother to neonate by rooming in and breastfeeding is low.