P.65 Anaesthetic considerations and outcomes in 90 pregnant women with COVID-19: A prospective observational study

Abstract

Referrals to the high-risk anaesthetic antenatal clinic Discussion: Demand for clinic slots more than doubled in 5 years. The number of medical problems has also risen dramatically, with 44% of patients now having 2 or more problems compared to 9% 5 years ago. An increase in the number of women with a BMI>40 kg/m 2 puts additional pressure on delivery suites and elective caesarean lists as IV access, neuraxial blocks and operative delivery are more complex and time-consuming. Our unit has needed to rapidly adjust to the increasing demand and complexity of patients by adding additional clinics, training in ultrasound for neuraxial procedures, and more double time slots on elective lists for patients with high BMI or medically complex pregnancies. We anticipate that this trend will continue, with a similar picture seen in smaller centres within 5 years. References

Obstetric analgesia and anaesthesia in SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive parturients across 10 maternity units in the north‐west of England: a retrospective cohort study

“…Paradoxically however, a recent registry-based study in the USA highlighted a lower rate of neuraxial labour analgesia in parturients with symptomatic COVID-19, and a higher rate of GA for emergency caesarean birth [13]. To date, there have been no largescale multicentre studies of labour analgesia and anaesthetic interventions in parturients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 before childbirth in the UK, though some single centres have reported anaesthetic outcomes in a small number of parturients affected by COVID-19 [14,15]. An overall comparison of caesarean birth rates in SARS-CoV-2 positive/negative parturients across the maternity units was also performed.…”