Peripartum anesthetic management of women with SARS-CoV-2 infection in eight medical centers across three European countries: prospective cohort observation study.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

Several reports of obstetric anesthesia management have been published since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to collect high-quality broad and detailed data from different university medical centers in several European Society of Anesthesiologist countries.

METHODS:

This prospective observational survey was performed in eight medical centers in Spain, Israel and Portugal from 1st April to 31st July 2020. Institutional review board approval was received at each participating center. Inclusion criteria: all women with a positive test for COVID-19. Retrieved data included maternal, delivery, anesthetic, postpartum details, and neonatal outcomes. Descriptive data are presented, and outcomes were compared for women with versus without respiratory signs and symptoms.

RESULTS:

Women with respiratory symptoms (20/12.1%) had significantly higher mean (standard deviation) temperature (37.2 °C (0.8) versus 36.8 °C (0.6)), were older (34.1 (6.7) years versus 30.5 (6.6)) and had higher body mass index kg m-2 - (29.5 (7.5) versus 28.2 (5.1)). Women with respiratory symptoms delivered at a significantly earlier gestational age (50% < 37 weeks) with a 65% cesarean delivery rate (versus 22.1% in the group without respiratory symptoms) and 5-fold increased rate of emergency cesarean delivery, 30% performed under general anesthesia. A higher rate of intrauterine fetal death (3%) was observed than expected from the literature (0.2-0.3%) in developed countries. There was no evidence of viral vertical transmission.

CONCLUSION:

Well-functioning neuraxial analgesia should be available to manage laboring women with respiratory symptoms, as there is a higher frequency of emergency cesarean delivery. We report a higher rate of undiagnosed parturient and intrauterine fetal death.

• Authors: Alexander Ioscovich, Emilia Guasch, Nicolas Brogly, Daniel Shatalin, Susana Manrique-Muñoz, Maria Elena Sánchez Royo, Sabastine Zimro, Yehuda Ginosar, Neusa Lages, Jacob Weinstein, Haim Berkenstadt, Chaim Greenberger, Alexey Lazutkin, Alexander Izakson, Daniel Ioscovich, Sharon Orbach-Zinger, Carolyn F Weiniger
• Journal: The journal of maternal-fetal & neonatal medicine : the official journal of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Federation of Asia and Oceania Perinatal Societies, the International Society of Perinatal Obstetricians (J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med) Vol. 35 Issue 25 Pg. 7756-7763 (Dec 2022) ISSN: 1476-4954 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 34107853 (Publication Type: Observational Study, Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Anesthetics

Topics

• Pregnancy
• Infant, Newborn
• Female
• Humans
• Infant
• COVID-19 (epidemiology)
• Peripartum Period
• Pandemics
• Prospective Studies
• SARS-CoV-2
• Fetal Death
• Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical
• Anesthetics
• Pregnancy Complications, Infectious (epidemiology)
• Pregnancy Outcome