Cohort profile: COVID-19 in a cohort of pregnant women and their descendants, the MOACC-19 study

Purpose

The Mother and Child Covid-19 study is a cohort recruiting pregnant women and their children in Cantabria, North of Spain, during COVID-19 pandemic in order to ascertain Consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection on pregnant women and their descendants. This article reports the cohort profile and preliminary results as recruitment is still open.

Participants

Three sub-cohorts can be identified at recruitment. Sub-cohort 1 includes women giving birth between 23 ^rd March and 25 ^th May 2020; they have been retrospectively recruited and could have been exposed to COVID-19 only in their third trimester of pregnancy. Sub-cohort 2 includes women giving birth from 26 ^th May 2020 on; they are being prospectively recruited and could have been exposed to COVID-19 in both their second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Sub-cohort 3 includes women in their 12 ^th week of pregnancy prospectively recruited from 26 ^th May 2020 on; they could have been exposed to COVID-19 anytime in their pregnancy. All women are being tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection using both RT-PCR for RNA detection and ELISA for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. All neonates are being tested for antibodies using immunochemoluminiscency tests; if the mother is tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, a naso-pharyngeal swab is also obtained from the child for RT-PCR analysis.

Findings to date

As of 22 ^nd October, 1167 women have been recruited (266, 354 and 547 for sub-cohorts 1, 2 and 3, respectively). Fourteen women tested positive to SARS-CoV-2 RNA by the day of delivery. All fourteen children born from these women tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 RNA.

Future plans

Children from women included in sub-cohort 3 are expected to be recruited by the end of 2020. Children will be followed-up for one year in order to ascertain the effect that COVID-19 on their development.

ARTICLE SUMMARY

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

• This cohort would ascertain the effect of COVID-19 in both mother and children whatever the trimester of the infection.

• It would also compare health care provided to pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic with that provided in the same hospital before the emergence of COVID-19.

• The cohort is recruited in Spain, one of the developed countries earlier and more affected by COVID-19.

Limitations

• The study could be underpowered according to the prevalence reported in a Spanish national study.

• Information regarding exposure to people infected by SARS-CoV-2 or risk activities is self-reported.