A multicentre study on the clinical characteristics of newborns infected with coronavirus disease 2019 during the omicron wave

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of newborns infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the Omicron wave.MethodsFrom December 1, 2022, to January 4, 2023, clinical data were collected from neonates with COVID-19 who were admitted to 10 hospitals in Foshan City, China. Their epidemiological histories, clinical manifestations and outcomes were analysed. The neonates were divided into symptomatic and asymptomatic groups. The t test or χ2 test was used for comparisons between groups.ResultsA total of 286 children were diagnosed, including 166 males, 120 females, 273 full-term infants and 13 premature infants. They were 5.5 (0–30) days old on average when they were admitted to the hospital. These children had contact with patients who tested positive for COVID-19 and were infected through horizontal transmission. This study included 33 asymptomatic and 253 symptomatic patients, among whom 143 were diagnosed with upper respiratory tract infections and 110 were diagnosed with pneumonia. There were no severe or critical patients. Fever (220 patients) was the most common clinical manifestation, with a duration of 1.1 (1–6) days. The next most common clinical manifestations were cough with nasal congestion or runny nose (4 patients), cough (34 patients), poor appetite (7 patients), shortness of breath (15 patients), and poor general status (1 patient). There were no significant abnormalities in routine blood tests among the neonates infected with COVID-19 except for mononucleosis. However, compared with the asymptomatic group, in the symptomatic group, the leukocyte and neutrophil granulocyte counts were significantly decreased, and the monocyte count was significantly increased. C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were significantly increased (≥10 mg/L) in 9 patients. Myocardial enzyme, liver function, kidney function and other tests showed no obvious abnormalities.ConclusionsIn this study, neonates infected with the Omicron variant were asymptomatic or had mild disease. Symptomatic patients had lower leucocyte and neutrophil levels than asymptomatic patients.

Maternal and neonatal COVID-19 – the pandemic experience in a tertiary maternity unit in Romania – unicentric, prospective study

“…Therefore, the rate of prematurity was lower in mothers diagnosed with COVID-16 (6.42%) as compared to the prematurity rate during the study period (7.42%) and different from the rates reported by other authors: 7.4-26.8% [14,20,21,37,43,[55][56][57]. A lower rate (4.54%) was reported by a recent study performed during Omicron variant dominance [51]. Similarly, the rate of LBW infants found in our study (7.34%) was higher than the rate reported by Gerhart et al [53] in 2021 and Dos Santos et al [20] in 2023 (5,4% and 6.9%, respectively, in infants delivered by SARS-CoV-2 positive mothers during the third trimester of pregnancy) and lower compared to what other studies reported: 12.7-18.7 [48,56,57].…”

“…The results may be partially due to increased virulence of the Delta variant [3,47]. Very few studies reported on neonatal outcomes of newborns delivered by mothers infected with Omicron and other new SARS-CoV-2 variants and most of these studies were case reports [5,51,74]. During the Delta/ Omicron/other variants period infants were tested significantly earlier as compared to the pre-Delta Period most probably due to increased availability of tests and laboratory testing capacity.…”

“…As the pandemic continues, a lot of changes are adding more unanswered questions regarding the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infections on pregnant women and their offspring, the new variants occurring as a result of virus mutations, with different virulence and infectivity (usually with lower virulence and increased contagiousness), changes of the preventive measures and in the maternal and neonatal care, the impact of adult and children vaccination (delayed vaccination of children led to an increased number of infections in children while preventive and control measures and vaccination slowed down the spread and severity of pandemic) being just a few of the new variables that may modify the impact of maternal and neonatal SARS-CoV-2 infections [3,[50][51][52]. Variations in the clinical design of the studies, different patient characteristics, and various effects of virus variants are other important factors for the inconsistent results of the current studies [19].…”