The effects of COVID-19 on pregnancy outcome.

background The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is the most challenging health crisis that we are facing today. Against the backdrop of this pandemic, it becomes imperative to study the effects of this infection on pregnancy outcome and its mode of delivery. Hence, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of COVID-19 infection on pregnancy as well as the outcome. Materials and methods In this retrospective observational analytical study, a total of 150 pregnant women were included in the study, from 1 September 2020 to 1 May 2021, most of them confirmed that positive COVID-19 by PCR, depending on questionaries' paper distributed to the infected pregnant women at that time in Babylon government. Results We observed that young females (<20 years) had the least chance of infection, rural areas were more vulnerable to infection than urban areas, employed pregnant women had a higher chance of infection than unemployed, and that the majority of women were treated at home. Of those infected patients, those who were infected during their third trimester were more likely to present with complications with their pregnancy (rather than COVID-19), such as IUGR and IUD etc. Regarding the mode of delivery, there is a slightly increased rate of caesarian section (CS) when compared with the typical population, after excluding the obstetric indication for CS, such as complete placenta prevea. Conclusion There is no significant effect of COVID-19 infection on maternal and fetal outcomes in pregnancy, despite a slight increase in preterm labor and C/S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]