Coronavirus disease 2019 and first-trimester spontaneous abortion: a case-control study of 225 pregnant patients

  1. Stefano Cosma
  2. Andrea R. Carosso
  3. Jessica Cusato
  4. Fulvio Borella
  5. Marco Carosso
  6. Marialuisa Bovetti
  7. Claudia Filippini
  8. Antonio D’Avolio
  9. Valeria Ghisetti
  10. Giovanni Di Perri
  11. Chiara Benedetto

Reviewed by

Read the full article See related articles

Listed in

Log in to save this article

Abstract

No abstract available

Article activity feed

  1. Version published to 10.1016/j.ajog.2020.10.005
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.19.20135749: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the City of Health and Science of Turin (Reference number: 00171/2020).
    Consent: Written, informed consent was obtained from all participants.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variableWomen who had been referred to our Hospital for first trimester spontaneous abortion care between February 22 and May 21, 2020 were contacted and enrolled (case group).

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    Chemiluminescence CE-approved immunoassay (CLIA) technology was used for the semi-quantitative determination of anti-S1 and anti-S2 specific IgG neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 (Liaison® SARS-CoV-2 S1/S2 IgG, Diasorin, Saluggia, Italy): the antibody concentration is expressed as arbitrary units (AU/mL) and grades the results as positive when ≥ 15 AU/mL.
    anti-S1
    suggested: None
    anti-S2
    suggested: None
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Statistical analyses were performed using SAS software ver. 9.4 for Windows (SAS Institute, Carey, NC, USA).
    SAS
    suggested: (SASqPCR, RRID:SCR_003056)
    SAS Institute
    suggested: (Statistical Analysis System, RRID:SCR_008567)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    A major limitation of the study is that we were unable to accurately backdate the time of infection in women with spontaneous abortion. In the absence of an IgG avidity test, we evaluated the time elapsed between the abortion and the blood test for antibody detection. The profile of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in this cohort was comparable with previous findings. Seroconversion of IgG or IgM within 20 days after symptom onset has recently been reported.15 The median day of seroconversion for both IgG and IgM was 13 days with a synchronous or a discordant pattern. In light of this evidence, seroconversion during pregnancy could be excluded (or be controversial) only in one patient (no. 4, Fig. 2) in the case group. The detection of IgM antibodies at 66 days after abortion does not preclude that seroconversion might have occurred after the loss of pregnancy. In view of future research addressing the issue on the relationship between COVID-19 and spontaneous abortion, it will be difficult for researchers to precisely define the timing of infection and the effective seroconversion during pregnancy. Inclusion criteria, together with the beginning of the study at pandemic outbreak, allowed us to fairly overcome this issue. Concern is mounting about the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy, possible vertical transmission,16–18 and unfavorable obstetric outcomes in particular. Reproductive medicine societies advised delaying the start of assisted reproductive treatments19 and guidelines...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.19.20135749v1 on medRxiv