Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct:253:31-34.
doi: 10.1016/j.ejogrb.2020.07.051. Epub 2020 Jul 30.

The rate of SARS-CoV-2 positivity in asymptomatic pregnant women admitted to hospital for delivery: Experience of a pandemic center in Turkey

Atakan Tanacan  1 , Seyit Ahmet Erol  2 , Batuhan Turgay  3 , Ali Taner Anuk  2 , Elcin Islek Secen  2 , Gulin Feykan Yegin  2 , Sebnem Ozyer  4 , Fisun Kirca  5 , Bedia Dinc  5 , Serpil Unlu  6 , Elif Gul Yapar Eyi  2 , Huseyin Levent Keskin  4 , Dilek Sahin  4 , Aziz Ahmet Surel  7 , Ozlem Moraloglu Tekin  8
Affiliations

The rate of SARS-CoV-2 positivity in asymptomatic pregnant women admitted to hospital for delivery: Experience of a pandemic center in Turkey

Atakan Tanacan et al. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the rate of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) positivity in asymptomatic pregnant women admitted to hospital for delivery in a Turkish pandemic center.

Study design: This prospective cohort study was conducted in Ankara City Hospital between April, 15, 2020 and June, 5, 2020. A total of 206 asymptomatic pregnant women (103 low-risk pregnant women without any defined risk factor and 103 high-risk pregnant women) were screened for SARS-CoV-2 positivity upon admission to hospital for delivery. Detection of SARS-CoV2 in nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal samples was performed by Real Time Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) method targeting RdRp (RNA dependent RNA polymerase) gene. Two groups were compared in terms of demographic features, clinical characteristics and SARS-CoV-2 positivity.

Results: Three of the 206 pregnant women participating in the study had positive RT-PCR tests (1.4 %) and all positive cases were in the high-risk pregnancy group. Although, one case in the high-risk pregnancy group had developed symptoms highly suspicious for COVID-19, two repeated RT-PCR tests were negative. SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR positivity rate was significantly higher in the high-risk pregnancy group (2.9 % vs 0%, p = 0.04).

Conclusion: Healthcare professionals should be cautious in the labor and delivery of high-risk pregnant women during the pandemic period and universal testing for COVID-19 may be considered in selected populations.

Keywords: Asymptomatic patients; COVID-19; Pandemic; Pregnancy; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors state that they have no conflict of interest in this study.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Saadat S., Rawtani D., Hussain C.M. Environmental perspective of COVID-19. Sci Total Environ. 2020;728 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kennedy D.M., Zambrano G.J., Wang Y., Neto O.P. Modeling the effects of intervention strategies on COVID-19 transmission dynamics. J Clin Virol. 2020;128 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Narang K., Ibirogba E.R., Elrefaei A., Trad A.T.A., Theiler R., Nomura R., et al. SARS-CoV-2 in pregnancy: a comprehensive summary of current guidelines. J Clin Med. 2020;9(5) - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stephens A.J., Barton J.R., Bentum N.A., Blackwell S.C., Sibai B.M. General guidelines in the management of an obstetrical patient on the labor and delivery unit during the COVID-19 pandemic. Am J Perinatol. 2020 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ashokka B., Loh M.-H., Tan C.H., SU L.L., Young B.E., Lye D.C., et al. Care of the pregnant woman with COVID-19 in labor and delivery: anesthesia, emergency cesarean delivery, differential diagnosis in the acutely ill parturient, care of the newborn, and Protection of the healthcare personnel. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2020 - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms