Recent studies have shown that COVID-19 diagnoses in pregnant women are not associated with higher rates of in utero fetal developmental diagnoses or poor outcomes in the first six to eight weeks of life.1,2 We investigated first-year infant outcomes for 17,110 babies born to women who tested positive for COVID-19 during pregnancy (2,379 first trimester infections, 4,459 second trimester infections, and 10,272 third trimester infections) and compared them to 68,440 babies born to women who did not have a positive test or diagnosis. We assessed growth and 46 different developmental and congenital disorders for babies in their first year of life.
We found that in utero exposure to COVID-19 had no effect on an infant’s growth, including height, weight, head circumference, and length-to-weight measurements. However, babies born to women with COVID-19 during pregnancy experienced congenital cardiovascular defects, heart rhythm abnormalities, metabolic disorders, and perinatal respiratory disorders at a slightly elevated rate compared to babies born to women who did not have COVID-19 during pregnancy. Rates of these conditions were most significantly elevated for babies born to women who were infected during the second trimester.
