Volume 11, Issue 2 (6-2023)                   JoMMID 2023, 11(2): 71-77 | Back to browse issues page

XML Print

Download citation:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
Ahmed T, Fomda B A, Altaf I, Bashir G. Prevalence of Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection among Pregnant Women: A Retrospective Study from a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India. JoMMID 2023; 11 (2) :71-77
URL: http://jommid.pasteur.ac.ir/article-1-505-en.html
Prevalence of Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection among Pregnant Women: A Retrospective Study from a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India
Tufail Ahmed , Bashir Ahmad Fomda * , Insha Altaf , Gulnaz Bashir
Department of Microbiology, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, Srinagar – 190011, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Abstract:   (1192 Views)
Introduction: COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, had a widespread impact on lives worldwide. Its global impact has transcended geographical barriers, affecting people of all ages, races, and genders. Pregnancy induces critical physiological changes in women that can increase their susceptibility to infections. As a result, pregnant women may be at a higher risk of acquiring infections compared to non-pregnant individuals. This retrospective study aimed to determine the prevalence of COVID-19 among pregnant women from April 2020 to January 2022. Methods: Screening was performed on a total of 4929 pregnant women nearing their expected delivery date. Nasopharyngeal and/or oropharyngeal samples were collected and analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 detection using real-time RT-PCR. Result: Pregnant women in the study had a mean age of 30.28 years, and the overall prevalence of COVID-19 was 3.6%. Positivity rates varied between zero and 23.2% during different intervals, with increases in positivity coinciding with the peaks of the country's first, second, and third waves of COVID-19. Pregnant females exhibited a higher positivity rate for COVID-19 compared to the general population. Conclusions: The presence of COVID-19-positive patients in our study group, which comprised entirely of asymptomatic individuals, underscores the importance of active screening among at-risk populations, particularly during periods of increased activity in the general population. These findings can be of vital importance for the management of COVID-19 in pregnant patients, as well as policymaking at all levels.
 
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, Pregnancy, RT-PCR, Asymptomatic
Full-Text [PDF 845 kb]   (445 Downloads)    
Type of Study: Original article | Subject: Diagnostic/screening methods and protocols
Received: 2022/11/8 | Accepted: 2023/06/11 | Published: 2023/07/18
References
1. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): Situation Report - 85 (14 April 2020) - World | ReliefWeb. Accessed February 16, 2022. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-situation-report-85-14-april-2020. [DOI:10.7175/cmi.v14i1.1467]
2. Liu H, Wang LL, Zhao SJ, Kwak-Kim J, Mor G, Liao AH. Why are pregnant women susceptible to COVID-19? An immunological viewpoint. J Reprod Immunol. 2020; 139: 103122. [DOI:10.1016/j.jri.2020.103122] [PMID] [PMCID]
3. WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard | WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard with Vaccination Data. Accessed October 17, 2022. https://covid19.who.int.
4. Andrews MA, Areekal B, Rajesh KR, Krishnan J, Suryakala R, Krishnan B, et al. First confirmed case of COVID-19 infection in India: A case report. Indian J Med Res. 2020; 151 (5): 490-2. [DOI:10.4103/ijmr.IJMR_2131_20] [PMID] [PMCID]
5. Lone SA, Ahmed T, Amin U, Allaie AH, Jan K, Kour AP, et al. Can rapid antigen tests lessen the burden on testing laboratories? An evaluation of the testing methods during the COVID-19 pandemic. Natl J Lab Med. 2023; 12 (1): MO10-MO4. [DOI:10.7860/NJLM/2023/59890.2688]
6. Peeri NC, Shrestha N, Rahman MS, Zaki R, Tan Z, Bibi S, et al. The SARS, MERS, and novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemics, the newest and biggest global health threats: what lessons have we learned? Int J Epidemiol. 2020; 49 (3): 717-26. [DOI:10.1093/ije/dyaa033] [PMID] [PMCID]
7. Sharifi H, Jahani Y, Mirzazadeh A, Ahmadi Gohari M, Nakhaeizadeh M, Shokoohi M, et al. Estimating COVID-19-Related Infections, Deaths, and Hospitalizations in Iran Under Different Physical Distancing and Isolation Scenarios. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2022; 11 (3): 334-43.
8. Wong SF, Chow KM, Leung TN, NG WF, NG TK, Shek CC, et al. Pregnancy and perinatal outcomes of women with severe acute respiratory syndrome. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2004; 191 (1): 292-7. [DOI:10.1016/j.ajog.2003.11.019] [PMID] [PMCID]
9. Alfaraj SH, Al-Tawfiq JA, Memish ZA. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection during pregnancy: Report of two cases & review of the literature. J Microbiol Immunol Infect. 2019; 52 (3): 501-3. [DOI:10.1016/j.jmii.2018.04.005] [PMID] [PMCID]
10. Juan J, Gil MM, Rong Z, Zhang Y, Yang H, Poon LC. Effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on maternal, perinatal and neonatal outcome: systematic review. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2020; 56 (1): 15-27. [DOI:10.1002/uog.22088] [PMID] [PMCID]
11. Gong XM, Song L, Li H, et al. Ct characteristics and diagnostic value of COVID-19 in pregnancy. PLoS ONE. 2020; 15 (7): e0235134. [DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0235134] [PMID] [PMCID]
12. Nelson-Piercy, C. (n.d.). Handbook of obstetric medicine. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 2015: 371. [DOI:10.1201/b18316]
13. Bachani S, Arora R, Dabral A, Marwah Sh, Anand P, Reddy KS, et al. Clinical Profile, Viral Load, Maternal-Fetal Outcomes of Pregnancy with COVID-19: 4-Week Retrospective, Tertiary Care Single-Centre Descriptive Study. J ObstetGynaecol Can. 2021; 43 (4): 474-82. [DOI:10.1016/j.jogc.2020.09.021] [PMID] [PMCID]
14. Gupta P, Kumar S, Sharma SS. SARS-CoV-2 prevalence and maternal-perinatal outcomes among pregnant women admitted for delivery: Experience from COVID-19-dedicated maternity hospital in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir (India). J Med Virol. 2021; 93 (9): 5505-14. [DOI:10.1002/jmv.27074] [PMID] [PMCID]
15. Qiao J. What are the risks of COVID-19 infection in pregnant women? Lancet. 2020; 395 (10226): 760-2. [DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30365-2] [PMID]
16. Schwartz DA, Graham AL. Potential Maternal and Infant Outcomes from (Wuhan) Coronavirus 2019-nCoV Infecting Pregnant Women: Lessons from SARS, MERS, and Other Human Coronavirus Infections. Viruses. 2020; 12 (2): 194. [DOI:10.3390/v12020194] [PMID] [PMCID]
17. Wang D, Hu B, Hu C, Zhu F, Liu X, Zhang J, et al. Clinical Characteristics of 138 Hospitalized Patients With 2019 Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia in Wuhan, China [published correction appears in JAMA. 2021; 325 (11): 1113]. JAMA. 2020; 323 (11): 1061-9. [DOI:10.1001/jama.2020.1585] [PMID] [PMCID]
18. Chen H, Guo J, Wang C, Luo F, Yu X, Zhang W, et al. Clinical characteristics and intrauterine vertical transmission potential of COVID-19 infection in nine pregnant women: a retrospective review of medical records [published correction appears in Lancet. 2020; 395 (10229): 1038]. Lancet. 2020; 395 (10226): 809-15. [DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30360-3] [PMID]
19. Gupta N, Agrawal S, Ish P, Mishra S, Gaind R, Usha G, et al. Clinical and epidemiologic profile of the initial COVID-19 patients at a tertiary care centre in India. Monaldi Arch Chest Dis. 2020; 90 (1). [DOI:10.4081/monaldi.2020.1294]
20. Bhandari S, Shaktawat AS, Sharma R, Dube A, Kakkar SH, Banerjee S, et al. A preliminary clinico-epidemiological portrayal of COVID-19 pandemic at a premier medical institution of North India. Ann Thorac Med. 2020; 15 (3): 146-50. [DOI:10.4103/atm.ATM_182_20] [PMID] [PMCID]
21. Lu D, Sang L, Du S, Li T, Chang Y, Yang XA. Asymptomatic COVID-19 infection in late pregnancy indicated no vertical transmission. J Med Virol. 2020; 92 (9): 1660-4. [DOI:10.1002/jmv.25927] [PMID] [PMCID]
22. Gupta P, Kumar S, Sharma SS. SARS-CoV-2 prevalence and maternal-perinatal outcomes among pregnant women admitted for delivery: Experience from COVID-19-dedicated maternity hospital in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir (India). J Med Virol. 2021; 93 (9): 5505-14. [DOI:10.1002/jmv.27074] [PMID] [PMCID]
23. Farhana A, Khan S, Khan R, Amin U. Hospital Based Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and Clinico-Demographic Profile of COVID-19 Patients: A Study from a Tertiary Care Hospital of North India. J Adv Med Med Res. 2021; 33 (4): 126-36. [DOI:10.9734/jammr/2021/v33i1430979]
24. Nayak AH, Kapote DS, Fonseca M, Chavan N, Mayekar R, Sarmalkar Mm et al.. Impact of the Coronavirus Infection in Pregnancy: A Preliminary Study of 141 Patients. J Obstet Gynaecol India. 2020; 70 (4): 256-61. [DOI:10.1007/s13224-020-01335-3] [PMID] [PMCID]
25. Kar SK, Ransing R, Arafat SMY, Menon V. Second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India: Barriers to effective governmental response. EClinicalMedicine. 2021; 36: 100915. [DOI:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.100915] [PMID] [PMCID]
Add your comments about this article : Your username or Email:
CAPTCHA
Send email to the article author

Rights and permissions
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.