Description of term pregnant women in labor with COVID-19: a literature review

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought a major impact to health systems and societies worldwide. However, knowledge about the effect of COVID-19 infection during pregnancy and the perinatal outcome is still limited and no specific recommendations available yet on the management of this condition. This was a literature review study on the characteristics of pregnant women, types of delivery, and neonatal outcomes associated with COVID-19. The database used as the literature source were PubMed, AJOG, NCBI, RCOG, and Google Scholar and the search was performed on the articles published from July 2021 to August 2021 that meet the inclusion criteria. Eleven articles were included in this study and were extracted and analyzed using statistic summary. The majority of the term pregnant women in labor with COVID-19 were 21-35 years old (86.4%) and 55.5% were multiparous, with the majority of them delivered their baby through caesarean section (74.3%). The perinatal outcomes demonstrated that a small percentage of newborns experienced low birth weight (10.9%) and asphyxia (3.3%). Further studies are needed regarding vertical transmission from women in labor with COVID-19 to their baby.