Clinical characteristics in pregnant women with COVID-19 infection in a hospital in Iran

Pregnant women have supposedly been among the most vulnerable groups since the onset of COVID-19 crisis. Some of the complications of COVID-19 are expected to be more severe in pregnant women, which could be attributed to physiological changes occurring during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical as well as laboratory characteristics of pregnant women with COVID-19 infection.

In this retrospective study, the medical records of all pregnant women with COVID-19, who were admitted in a tertiary hospital in Iran over the period between March and November 2020, were meticulously reviewed. The clinical and laboratory characteristics of 42 pregnant women with RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 infection were assessed. Statistical analyses were performed on Stata 16.0. All statistical tests were two-tailed at the significance level of P < 0.05.

At the time of the study, 42 pregnant women had the symptoms of COVID-19 and were hospitalized. The most common clinical signs of COVID-19 were: fever (69.0%), fatigue (31.0%), dyspnea (28.6%), and pharyngalgia (23.8%). In addition, the most common laboratory symptoms were: an increase in C-reactive protein (CRP) (69.0%), leukocytosis (66.7%), and lymphocytopenia (66.7%). Ground glass opacity (GGO) was a common (83.3%) finding in long computed tomography (CT scan).

The finding of this study indicated that most common clinical symptoms and laboratory parameters in pregnant women with COVID-19 were similar to those of non-pregnant women with COVID-19 infection as reported by other researchers.