Clinical and laboratory characteristics of newborns from mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus and COVID-19 during pregnancy

Data on the course of pregnancy complicated by SARS-CoV-2 infection, and the condition ofthe fetus and newborn are of great interest to neonatologists and pediatricians.

Purpose. The study aimed at evaluating the clinical and laboratory features of the early neonatal period and individual health indicators in infancy in full-term newborns from mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus and COVID-19 during pregnancy.

Materials and Methods. Two groups of full-term newborns whose mothers’ pregnancy was complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus were compared in matched pairs (each group included 80 patients). In the first group of newborns, COVID-19 was diagnosed in mothers during pregnancy, in the second group, COVID-19 was not observed in mothers. At the age of 9 months, an analysis of outpatient medical records was carried out and a questionnaire survey of mothers was conducted. The methods of collecting and processing information using the Microsoft Excel 2016 software package for Windows 7, IBM SPSS Statistics v22 were used. Results. COVID-19 infection during pregnancy is associated with a higher frequency of respiratory and neurological disorders in the newborn, and with problems of enteral feeding. In the peripheral blood, the indices fell within the limits of reference values, but there was a decrease in leukocytes, platelets and an increase in the fraction of segmented neutrophils. At the age of 9 months, the children of the main group had a larger body weight and head circumference, a higher incidence of chronic morbidity was noted, and the children were registered with a neurologist, cardiologist and endocrinologist.

Conclusions. Clinical and laboratory features of early neonatal adaptation of children from mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus and COVID-19 during pregnancy were revealed. A more severe course of diabetic fetopathy has not been proven in children from women who suffered COVID-19 during pregnancy. The higher incidence of chronic morbidity in infancy requires further study.

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