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Aims: Limited knowledge exists on pregnancy outcome among COVID-19 positive pregnant women despite relatively better understanding on disease severity in pregnancy. Objective of this assessment is to describe the maternal characteristics and factors associated with disease severity and pregnancy outcome of COVID-19 positive pregnant women in Sri Lanka. Study Design: Secondary descriptive analysis was conducted using data reported in the National COVID-19 positive pregnant women surveillance, Sri Lanka. Place and Duration of Study: All pregnant women who were tested positive either by RT-PCR or by Rapid Antigen Test for SARS CoV-2 virus and their pregnancy and neonatal outcomes reported from 1st March 2020 to 31st October 2021 in the National surveillance in Sri Lanka, were included in the study. Methodology: Sri Lankan country-level pregnant women characteristics were compared with COVID-19 positive pregnant women using Z test. Associated factors for disease severity and pregnancy outcome was calculated using univariate and multivariate Odds ratios. Results: Details of pregnancy and neonatal outcomes were reported for 2493 COVID-19 positive pregnant women. Less cases of severe COVID-19 infection were observed among pregnant women with no co-morbidities compared with women having at least single co-morbidity (AOR=0.508, CI=0.293-0.879, P=0.04). Pregnant women with mild to moderate infection reported better pregnancy outcome compared to women with severe infection (AOR=7.376, CI=3.557-15.292, P<0.001).  In contrast, COVID-19 diagnosis in 1st and 2nd trimesters significantly reduced the good pregnancy outcome compared to pregnant women with diagnosis of COVID-19 in 3rd trimester of the pregnancy (AOR=0.009, CI=0.005-0.015, P<0.001 and AOR=0.113, CI=0.072-0.179, P<0.001 respectively). Conclusion: Our study showed poor pregnancy outcome among severe vs mild to moderate infection and diagnosis in 1st and 2nd trimesters vs 3rd trimester among COVID-19 positive women. Further, increased severity of COVID-19 infection among pregnant women with co-morbidities vs no comorbidities.

Background Youth are at high risk for casual and unprotected sexual activities even before the marriage. The objective of the study is to describe the sexual behavior, contraceptive use among unmarried youth of Sri Lanka and to assess the factors associated with sexual behaviour. Methods Observational descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in three selected districts in Sri Lanka from 1st of March 2019 to 31st of January 2020 among 1057 never-married youth using a self-administered questionnaire. Both stratified cluster sampling and snow-ball sampling was used to select the eligible never-married youth. Factors associated with the sexual intercourse was assessed using logistic regression. Results Compared to boys (26%), more girls (35%) were engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse. Among sexually active unmarried youth aged less than 20 years, 10% had sexual intercourse with an unknown person. Unmarried Tamil and estate sector youth displayed significantly lower chances of sexual intercourse compared to Sinhala and urban counterparts (OR = 0.390, CI = 0.213–0.715, p = 0.002 and OR = 0.807, CI = 0.709–0.978, p = 0.020 respectively). Youth in rural (69.5%) and urban sector (87.3%) tend to use contraceptives during the intercourse compared to the youth in the Estate sector (51.1%). Conclusions A significant portion of youth expose to sexual risk behavior including unprotected sexual intercourse even before the marriage which can contribute to many social and health consequences. Focus interventions are needed to address the issue.

Background Youth are at high risk for casual and unprotected sexual activities even before marriage. The objective of the study is to describe the sexual behavior, and contraceptive use among unmarried youth of Sri Lanka and to assess the factors associated with sexual behaviour. Methods An observational descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in three selected districts in Sri Lanka from 1st March 2019 to 31st January 2020 among 1057 never-married youth using a self-administered questionnaire. Both stratified cluster sampling and snowball sampling were used to select the eligible never-married youth. Factors associated with sexual intercourse were assessed using logistic regression. Results Compared to boys (26%), more girls (35%) were engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse. Among sexually active unmarried youth aged less than 20 years, 10% had sexual intercourse with an unknown person. Unmarried Tamil and estate sector youth displayed significantly lower chances of sexual intercourse compared to Sinhala and urban counterparts (OR = 0.390, CI = 0.213-0.715, p = 0.002 and OR = 0.807, CI = 0.709-0.978, p = 0.020 respectively). Youth in the rural (69.5%) and urban sectors (87.3%) tend to use contraceptives during intercourse compared to the youth in the Estate sector (51.1%). Conclusions A significant portion of youth are exposed to sexual risk behavior including unprotected sexual intercourse even before marriage which can contribute to many social and health consequences. Focus interventions are needed to address the issue.

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