COVID-19 modulates pregnancy outcomes

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed many pregnant individuals to SARS-CoV-2. Literature suggests a link between gestational COVID-19 and adverse gestational outcomes. However, among all the factors that could impact pregnancy, COVID-19 is not the sole determinant, mainly in vulnerable populations. We hypothesized that COVID-19 could act as a moderator of some environmental exposures and pregnancy outcomes.

Methods

To investigate this, our sample consisted of 120 pregnant individuals with or without a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection (moderator) and delivery complications (outcome). eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) was used to select the exposures from fifteen variables: trait and state anxiety, perceived stress in the past month, lifetime and gestational stressful events, body mass index, number of prenatal appointments, the violent crime rate in their area, belonging to a marginalized ethnic group, paternal and maternal age, income, education level, and employment. A moderation analysis evaluated whether COVID-19 exerted a moderator effect between the exposures and outcome.

Results

XAI showed four variables that were associated with both pregnancy complications and COVID-19: trait anxiety, state anxiety, paternal age, and maternal age. These four variables were set as exposures in moderation analyses where COVID-19 was a moderator and gestation complications were the outcomes. COVID-19 interaction with the exposures was significant.

Discussion

Our research suggests that being infected by SARS-CoV-2 exacerbates the effects of anxiety and parental age on susceptibility to adverse pregnancy outcomes. In other words, COVID-19 is a moderator for these variables, which should be accounted for in future studies.

Significance