Study Design and Participants
Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, located in Wuhan, Hubei Province,
is one of the major teaching hospitals and is responsible for the
treatments for COVID-19 assigned by the Chinese government. For this
retrospective, single-center, case-controlled study, all patients with
COVID-19 were diagnosed according to World Health Organization interim
guidance2 and were
admitted centrally to the hospital from all of Wuhan without selectivity
from Jan 1 to May 7, 2020; final date of follow-up was Jul 8.
Thirty-seven pregnant women were infected, and 6 were excluded because
they were not matched. One pregnant woman received inducing abortion
before admission. Two were diagnosed as ectopic pregnancy and they
received surgery soon after hospitalization, while four were excluded
because of data missing. Clinical characteristics and outcomes of the
remaining 31 pregnant patients were compared with another historical
cohort of matched non-pregnant COVID-19 patients over the same study
period (ratio: 1:4). They were matched with respect to sex, age, timing
of contacting COVID-19, underlying illness and residence in Wuhan. This
study was approved by the ethics committee of Renmin Hospital (No.
WDRM2020-K141). Written informed consent was waived by the Ethics
Commission of Renmin hospital for emerging infectious diseases.