Consequences and implications of the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) on pregnancy and newborns: A comprehensive systematic review and meta‐analysis

Background Pregnant patients are potentially vulnerable to COVID‐19. Objectives To clarify the clinical features of COVID‐19 and analyze maternal/fetal morbidity and mortality and the obstetric and neonatal outcomes of pregnant patients. Search strategy Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHAL, LILACS, Google Scholar, and Scopus. Selection criteria Articles published from December 2019 to February 2021. Data collection and analysis The reviewers extracted relevant data from the full‐text. Data synthesis was performed using the R‐4.1.0 Project for Statistical Computing for Windows. The meta‐analysis of the included studies was carried out using the random‐effects model (DerSimonian and Laird). Heterogeneity was measured using I2 analysis. Results A total of 70 studies included 10 047 pregnant women with COVID‐19, of whom 71.6% were in their third trimester. The most common symptoms were fever, cough, chest pain, dyspnea, and fatigue. Most newborns were delivered preterm (24%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.17–0.34, I2 = 93%) and via cesarean delivery (42%, 95% CI 0.38–0.47, I2 = 92%). There were 108 maternal mortalities (2%, 95% CI 0.01–0.03, I2 = 54%) and 50 abortions (5%, 95% CI 0.03–0.09, I2 = 73%). The neonatal outcomes included fetal distress (11%, 95% CI 0.06–0.19, I2 = 91%), birth weight (15%, 95% CI 0.10–0.21, I2 = 76%), APGAR