Dataset Information

Short- and mid-term multidisciplinary outcomes of newborns exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in utero or during the perinatal period: preliminary findings.

ABSTRACT: The long-term outcomes of newborns exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection in utero or during the first hours of life are still unknown. We performed a single-center, prospective, observational study of newborns born from mothers with microbiologically confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy or at time of delivery. Infants were offered a multidisciplinary follow-up consisting of nasopharyngeal Polymerase Chain Reaction test at birth and at 48-72 h of life, auxological growth and neurological development, serologic testing, and audiological and ophthalmological assessments. One-hundred ninety-eight mothers and 199 newborns were enrolled. Of the 199 newborns, 171 underwent nasopharyngeal swab, four (2.3%) and two (1.15%) children tested positive at birth and 48-72 h of life, respectively. None had SARS-CoV-2 related symptoms. Auxologic and neurologic development were normal in all children during follow-up. Nine out of 59 infants had SARS-CoV-2 IgG at 3 months of life, which was associated with a positive nasopharyngeal swab at birth (P = 0.04). Twenty seven out of 143 (18.8%) newborns had pathologic transitory evoked otoacoustic emissions at birth, although 14/27 repeated after 1 month were normal. Audiological evaluation was completed with Auditory Brainstem Response between the third and sixth month of life in 34 children, showing in all normal hearing threshold. The ophthalmological evaluation found retinal vascular anomalies in 3/20 (15%) children, immature visual acuity in 5/20 (25%) children, and reduced distance attention in 6/20 cases (30%).

Conclusions

Our study showed that the neonatal and mid-term multidisciplinary outcomes of newborns exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection in utero or during the first hours of life are mostly positive, with the exception of ophthalmologic findings which, in a preliminary cohort, were abnormal in about 15% of cases. Further prospective, longitudinal studies are needed to better understand the clinical outcomes of children exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in utero and in the early postnatal life.

What is known

• In utero mother-to-child transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has been documented by several independent studies. • Neonatal COVID-19 is a systemic disease that can be severe, although rarely.

What is new

• Newborns exposed in utero to SARS-CoV-2 have mostly a normal auxological, audiological, and neurological development during the first months of life. • Fundus fluorescein angiography revealed that up to 5% of newborns exposed in utero to SARS-CoV2 can show retinal and choroidal abnormalities, including peripheral hypofluorescence of the choroid and increased vascular tortuosity.

SUBMITTER: Buonsenso D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8747884 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Short- and mid-term multidisciplinary outcomes of newborns exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in utero or during the perinatal period: preliminary findings.

Buonsenso Danilo D Costa Simonetta S Giordano Lucia L Priolo Francessca F Colonna Arianna Turriziani AT Morini Sofia S Sbarbati Martina M Pata Davide D Acampora Anna A Conti Guido G Crudo Fabrizio F Cantiani Alessandro A Martina Bianca Maria BM Amorelli Giulia Maria GM Orazi Lorenzo L Petrianni Maria M Ricci Daniela D Lanzone Antonio A Sanguinetti Maurizio M Cattani Paola P Sali Michela M Romeo Domenico D Zampino Giuseppe G Vento Giovanni G Valentini Piero P

European journal of pediatrics 20220111 4

The long-term outcomes of newborns exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection in utero or during the first hours of life are still unknown. We performed a single-center, prospective, observational study of newborns born from mothers with microbiologically confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy or at time of delivery. Infants were offered a multidisciplinary follow-up consisting of nasopharyngeal Polymerase Chain Reaction test at birth and at 48-72 h of life, auxological growth and neurological develop ...[more]

PMID: 35013811

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Project description:Background: Maternal smoking during pregnancy is a major risk factor for adverse health outcomes. The main objective of the study was to assess the impact of in utero tobacco exposure on DNA methylation in children born at term with appropriate weight at birth. Methods: Twenty mother-newborn dyads, after uncomplicated pregnancies, in the absence of perinatal illness were included. All mothers were healthy with no cardiovascular risk factors, except for the associated risks among those mothers who smoked. Umbilical cord blood (for methylation arrays) and maternal peripheral venous blood (for cotine level measurement) were collected and an epigenome-wide association study was performed using a 450K epigenome-wide scan (Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation 450BeadChip) with adjustment to normalize the DNA methylation for data cell variability in whole blood. Results: The maternal plasmatic cotinine levels ranged from 10.70-115.40 ng/ml in the exposed group to 0-0.59 ng/ml in the non-exposed group. After adjusting for multiple comparisons in 427102 probes, statistically significant differences for 31 CpG sites, associated to 25 genes were observed. There was a greater than expected proportion of statistically-significant loci located in CpG islands (FisherM-bM-^@M-^Ys exact test, p=0.029) and of those CpG islands, 90.3% exhibit higher methylation levels in the exposed group. The most striking and significant CpG site, cg05727225, is located in the chromosome 11p15.4, within the adrenomedullin gene. Conclusions: In utero tobacco exposure, even in the absence of fetal growth restriction, may alter the epigenome, contributing to global DNA hypomethylation. Therefore, DNA status can be used as a biomarker of prenatal insults. Considering the possibility to reverse epigenetic modifications, a window of opportunity exists to change the programmed chronic disease. Twenty mother-newborn dyads, after uncomplicated pregnancies, in the absence of perinatal illness were included. All mothers were healthy with no cardiovascular risk factors, except for the associated risks among those mothers who smoked. Umbilical cord blood were collected and an epigenome-wide association study was performed using a 450K epigenome-wide scan (Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation 450BeadChip) with adjustment to normalize the DNA methylation for data cell variability in whole blood.

Dataset Information

Short- and mid-term multidisciplinary outcomes of newborns exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in utero or during the perinatal period: preliminary findings.

Conclusions

What is known

What is new

Publications

Short- and mid-term multidisciplinary outcomes of newborns exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in utero or during the perinatal period: preliminary findings.

Similar Datasets

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