Six-Month Outcomes of Infants Born to mothers with SARS-CoV-2

The present study assessed the 6-month incidence of laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, postnatal care, hospitalization, and mortality among infants born to people with SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy by the timing of maternal infection.

The study utilized the cohort of liveborn infants from pregnancies with SARS-CoV-2 infections and described weighted estimates of infant outcomes from birth through 6 months of age from electronic health and laboratory records.

The study observed that among 6601 exposed infants with laboratory information through 6 months of age, 1.0% tested positive, 19.1% tested negative, and 80.0% did not have a SARS-CoV-2 report. Infants ≤14 days of age suffered SARS-CoV-2 infection only when maternal infection occurred ≤14 days before delivery. Among 3967 infants with medical record abstraction, breastmilk feeding initiation was lower when maternal infection occurred ≤14 days before delivery, contrasting >14 days. Six-month all-cause hospitalization was found to be 4.1%. All-cause mortality occurred higher among infants born to people with infection ≤14 days than >14 days before delivery.

The study provides reassuring results, with low incidences of most health outcomes examined. It shows that the incidence of infant SARS-CoV-2, breastmilk feeding initiation, and all-cause mortality differs by the timing of maternal infection. Strategies to prevent infections and support pregnant people with coronavirus disease 2019 are crucial to improve infant outcomes.

Gosdin L, Wallace B, Lanzieri TM, et al. Six-Month Outcomes of Infants Born to People With SARS-CoV-2 in Pregnancy. Pediatrics (2022) 150 (6): e2022059009. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2022-059009