Original Articles
Vol. 19 No. 1 (2025)
https://doi.org/10.4081/itjm.2025.1877

Maternal, fetal, and perinatal outcomes of COVID-19-infected pregnancies in Saudi Arabia: a meta-analysis and systematic review

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Published: 29 January 2025
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Meta-analysis, Saudi Arabia, COVID-19, pregnancy outcomes, antenatal

Authors

Ahmad Alwazzan
wazzan.ahmad123@gmail.com
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has been researched in various conditions to know the extent of its damage. During pregnancy, there is a placental exchange of blood between mother and fetus. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the prevalence of maternal, fetal, and perinatal outcomes of COVID-19-positive pregnancy cases in Saudi Arabia. PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science were searched for the period 2019-2024. Pregnancy cases only from Saudi Arabia and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction confirmed COVID-19 positive were included. Women with any other diseases were excluded. Six studies were selected for meta-analysis with a total of 1065 COVID-19-infected pregnancies. Among the maternal conditions, preterm rupture of membrane (PROM) had the highest prevalence [odds ratio (OR)=4.21; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.4-7]. Among fetal outcomes, the odds of postpartum anomalies were 4.8 (95% CI: 1.3-11). Intrapartum complications among perinatal outcomes were most likely to occur (OR=2.11; 95% CI: 120.9-125.1). No factual trend for a particular condition can be declared. PROM, postpartum, and intrapartum complications were more likely to occur in COVID-19-infected pregnancies.

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Maternal, fetal, and perinatal outcomes of COVID-19-infected pregnancies in Saudi Arabia: a meta-analysis and systematic review. (2025). Italian Journal of Medicine, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/itjm.2025.1877
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