Clinical characteristics and maternal perinatal outcome in women with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 in a hospital in Peru. Retrospective cohort study

Objectives: To describe the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics and the frequency of maternal and perinatal complications in pregnant women with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 treated in a high complexity hospital in Peru. Material and methods: Retrospective descriptive cohort study. Women with 20 or more weeks of gestation diagnosed with COVID-19 infection cared of at a national reference hospital of the Social Security of Peru between March and December 2020 were included. Women whose pregnancy did not end in the participating institution were excluded. The variables measured were: sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics of the pregnant woman, epidemiological link, severity of the COVID-19 infection, symptoms and laboratory data, maternal morbidity and mortality, presence of antibodies in the newborn, weight, adaptation and perinatal mortality. The analysis was descriptive. The protocol was approved by the research ethics committee of the Essalud Institute for the Evaluation of Health Technologies and Research. Results: The inclusion and exclusion criteria were met by 322 women. The study population was characterized by being predominantly women under 35 years of age, with higher education; 95% of pregnant women showed mild or imperceptible symptoms. The predominant symptoms were fever (85%), cough (52%) and headache (18%); leukocytosis (31%), lymphopenia (24%) and thrombocytopenia (5%) were documented. Two maternal deaths (0.6%) and 22 (7.2%) perinatal deaths were recorded; 0.9% of neonates exhibited a positive reactive test for COVID-19. Conclusions: During pregnancy, SARS-CoV-2 infection is usually asymptomatic or mild; however, moderate and severe cases are associated with more frequent maternal and perinatal complications. Further studies are required to analyze the maternalfetal impact of COVID-19 infection during pregnancy.