Acute and post-acute multidisciplinary outcomes of newborns born from mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy or the perinatal period

Introduction. 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 to evaluate acute and mid-term multidisciplinary outcomes. Methods. Infants were offered a multidisciplinary follow-up consisting of nasopharyngeal Polymerase Chain Reaction test at birth and at 48–72 h of life, auxological and ophthalmological assessments, and serologic testing. Results. 791 women and their 791 children (52.3% males) were included. Most placentas (94.9%) had abnormal inflammatory findings. 171 (27.3%) and 36 (13.7%) children respectively had pathological TEOAEs in at least one ear and bilaterally, while only four of the 85 children that underwent ABR had pathological findings (4.7%). 64 children underwent fluorescein angiography, which resulted pathological only in 1 case (1.6%). Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgGs were found in up to 60% of children tested at six months of age. Our findings showed no association between the maternal vaccination status or the presence of maternal symptoms during pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. Conclusions. Our study shows that the large majority of newborns exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection in utero or during the first hours of life have optimal outcomes. Our previous report of abnormal ophthalmologic findings was not confirmed on a larger cohort, while further studies are needed to better characterize audiological outcomes. Further prospective, case-controlled studies are still needed.