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

• Published in: BMJ open Vol. 11; no. 2; p. e044224
• Main Authors: Llorca, Javier, Lechosa-Muñiz, Carolina, Gortazar, Pilar, Fernández-Ortiz, María, Jubete, Yolanda, Cabero, Maria J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group LTD 26.02.2021; BMJ Publishing Group
• Series: Cohort profile
• Subjects: Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - diagnosis; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing; COVID-19 Serological Testing; Epidemiology; Female; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; Pandemics; Pediatrics; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - epidemiology; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - virology; Prospective Studies; Public health; Retrospective Studies; RNA, Viral - isolation & purification; SARS-CoV-2 - genetics; Socioeconomic factors; Spain - epidemiology; Womens health; Spain; epidemiology; maternal medicine; paediatric infectious disease & immunisation; public health
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044224

PurposeThe 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.ParticipantsThree subcohorts can be identified at recruitment. Subcohort 1 includes women giving birth between 23 March and 25 May 2020; they have been retrospectively recruited and could have been exposed to COVID-19 only in their third trimester of pregnancy. Subcohort 2 includes women giving birth from 26 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. Subcohort 3 includes women in their 12 week of pregnancy prospectively recruited from 26 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 nasopharyngeal swab is also obtained from the child for RT-PCR analysis.Findings to dateAs of 22 October, 1167 women have been recruited (266, 354 and 547 for subcohorts 1, 2 and 3, respectively). Fourteen women tested positive to SARS-CoV-2 RNA by the day of delivery. All 14 children born from these women tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 RNA.Future plansChildren from women included in subcohort 3 are expected to be recruited by the end of 2020. Children will be followed-up for 1 year in order to ascertain the effect that COVID-19 on their development.