Cardiological evaluation of babies of mothers with COVID-19 infection during pregnancy

COVID-19 is a disease that started as a pneumonia epidemic in Wuhan, China's Hubei province in January 2020, and quickly became a global health problem. There are also pregnant women in the affected group. It is well known that pregnant women are vulnerable to infections. Both pregnant women and newborns should be considered at risk for COVID19. In some studies, vertical transition is mentioned. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the impact of COVID-19 on morbidity, mortality, perinatal, maternal and fetal aspects of pregnant women and newborns in order to develop strategies for prevention and infection control. The aim of this study is to investigate the infants of mothers who had COVID-19 infection during pregnancy have cardiac effects. In this study, babies of mothers who applied to NE University Meram Medical Faculty Pediatric Cardiology and Neonatal Department between 2021-2022 and diagnosed with COVID-19 during pregnancy were evaluated cardiologically. Physical examination, heart sounds, ECO (echocardiografi) and ECG (electrocardiografi) parameters were evaluated at admission. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using the SPSS 27.0 package program (IBM SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Statistically, cases where p was less than 0.05 were considered significant. 41.9% (n=13) of 31 infants born to mothers who had COVID-19 infection during pregnancy were girls and 58.1% (n=18) was boys. 56.3% (n=18) of 32 babies born to vii mothers who did not have COVID-19 infection during pregnancy were girls and 43.8% (n=14) were boys. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of gender (p=0.256). 25.8% (n=8) of the babies of mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy were premature, 74.2% (n=23) were mature; 15.6% (n=5) of the babies of mothers who did not have COVID-19 during pregnancy were premature and 84.4% (n=27) were mature. There was no statistically significant difference between the birth week of the babies and the status of having COVID-19 during the pregnancy of the mothers (p=0.318). There was no difference between the presence of symptoms in the newborn period and hospitalization in the intensive care unit in the newborn period and the situation of the mothers having COVID19 infection during pregnancy. There was no difference between the groups in terms of birth weight of the babies (p=0.896). There was no statistically significant difference between the weight gain rates of the babies (p=0.123). There was no significant difference between the length of stay of the babies in the intensive care unit and the status of the mothers having COVID-19 infection during their pregnancies. The values of the parameters measured in ECHO were found to be similar in babies of mothers who had and did not have COVID-19 during pregnancy (p>0.05). There was a statistically significant difference between the maximum values of the P wave measured in the ECGs of babies born to mothers with and without COVID-19 positivity (p=0.048). It was found that the other values measured on the ECG were similar in both groups, there was no statistically significant difference between them (p>0.05). Data on intrauterine exposure to COVID-19 and vertical transmission are still insufficient. In the literature review, we could not find sufficient data about the babies of mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy. Therefore, further studies are needed. However, no intrauterine cardiac involvement was found in our study.