Open-access Comment on “Current evidence of SARS-CoV-2 vertical transmission: an integrative review”

Dear Editor,

We read with great interest the study by Oliveira et al.1. In their article, the authors have reviewed the current scientific evidence of vertical transmission related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, some concerns should be addressed.

First, only MEDLINE (via PubMed) and LILACS databases were searched for potential articles, which resulted in a significant reduction in the number of search results. Currently, they were more than 15 studies with available clinical characteristics of pregnant women and detailed neonatal outcomes. Other articles published up until 17th June 2020 meeting inclusion criteria can be seen in Table 1 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20.

Table 1
Other published reports with available clinical characteristics of pregnant women and detailed neonatal outcomes until 17th June 2020.

Second, the authors stated that “This review was performed according to a standard protocol for systematic reviews, which was based on the methodological manuals of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)21”. But we can’t find the PRISMA checklist in the manuscript or supplementary material.

Third, the authors didn’t exclude studies suspected of including duplicate reporting. The data from reference 15 (Yan et al.22) in this review were pooled from a national registry including 25 hospitals with study dates overlap. We suggest that when a hospital had published their cases more than once, only the paper with the biggest data was included to minimize the possibility of double counting.

  • Funding: none.

REFERENCES

  • 1 Oliveira LV, Silva CRAC, Lopes LP, Agra IKR. Current evidence of SARS-CoV-2 vertical transmission: an integrative review. Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992). 2020;66(Suppl 2):130-5. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.66.S2.130
    » https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.66.S2.130
  • 2 Zhu H, Wang L, Fang C, Peng S, Zhang L, Chang G, et al. Clinical analysis of 10 neonates born to mothers with 2019-nCoV pneumonia. Transl Pediatr. 2020;9(1):51-60. https://doi.org/10.21037/tp.2020.02.06
    » https://doi.org/10.21037/tp.2020.02.06
  • 3 Wang X, Zhou Z, Zhang J, Zhu F, Tang Y, Shen X. A case of 2019 novel coronavirus in a pregnant woman with preterm delivery. Clin Infect Dis. 2020;71(15):844-6. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa200
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  • 4 Khan S, Peng L, Siddique R, Nabi G, Nawsherwan, Xue M, et al. Impact of COVID-19 infection on pregnancy outcomes and the risk of maternal-to-neonatal intrapartum transmission of COVID-19 during natural birth. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2020;41(6):748-50. https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2020.84
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  • 5 Yu N, Li W, Kang Q, Xiong Z, Wang S, Lin X, et al. Clinical features and obstetric and neonatal outcomes of pregnant patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective, single-centre, descriptive study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2020;20(5):559-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30176-6
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  • 6 Dong L, Tian J, He S, Zhu C, Wang J, Liu C, et al. Possible vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from an infected mother to her newborn. JAMA. 2020;323(18):1846-8. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.4621
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  • 7 Chen S, Liao E, Cao D, Gao Y, Sun G, Shao Y. Clinical analysis of pregnant women with 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia. J Med Virol. 2020;92(9):1556-61. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25789
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  • 8 Lee DH, Lee J, Kim E, Woo K, Park HY, An J. Emergency cesarean section performed in a patient with confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2: a case report. Korean J Anesthesiol. 2020;73(4):347-51. https://doi.org/10.4097/kja.20116
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  • 11 Xiong X, Wei H, Zhang Z, Chang J, Ma X, Gao X, et al. Vaginal delivery report of a healthy neonate born to a convalescent mother with COVID-19. J Med Virol. 2020;92(9):1657-9. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25857
    » https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25857
  • 12 Khassawneh M, Khasawneh W, Al-Zaghal L, Hayajneh W, Abdelal F. The first Jordanian newborn delivered to COVID-19 infected mother with no evidence of vertical transmission: a case report. Research Square. 2020. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-22938/v1
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  • 13 Zamaniyan M, Ebadi A, Aghajanpoor S, Rahmani Z, Haghshenas M, Azizi S. Preterm delivery, maternal death, and vertical transmission in a pregnant woman with COVID-19 infection. Prenat Diagn. 2020;40(13):1759-61. https://doi.org/10.1002/pd.5713
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  • 14 Al-kuraishy H, Al-Maiahy T, Al-Gareeb A, Musa R, Ali Z. COVID-19 pneumonia in an Iraqi pregnant woman with preterm delivery. Asian Pacific Journal of Reproduction. 2020;9(3):156-8. https://doi.org/10.4103/2305-0500.282984
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  • 15 Wu Y, Liu C, Dong L, Zhang C, Chen Y, Liu J, et al. Coronavirus disease 2019 among pregnant Chinese women: case series data on the safety of vaginal birth and breastfeeding. BJOG. 2020;127(9):1109-15. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.16276
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  • 16 Perrone S, Deolmi M, Giordano M, D'Alvano T, Gambini L, Corradi M, et al. Report of a series of healthy term newborns from convalescent mothers with COVID-19. Acta Biomed. 2020;91(2):251-5. https://doi.org/10.23750/abm.v91i2.9743
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  • 17 Xia H, Zhao S, Wu Z, Luo H, Zhou C, Chen X. Emergency Caesarean delivery in a patient with confirmed COVID-19 under spinal anaesthesia. Br J Anaesth. 2020;124(5):e216-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bja.2020.02.016
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  • 18 Lowe B, Bopp B. COVID-19 vaginal delivery – A case report. Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol. 2020;60(3):465-6. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajo.13173
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  • 19 Wang Z, Wang Z, Xiong G. Clinical characteristics and laboratory results of pregnant women with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2020;150(3):312-7. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijgo.13265
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  • 20 Bani Hani DA, Alsharaydeh I, Bataineh AM, Al Athamneh M, Qamileh I, Al-Baik A, et al. Successful anesthetic management in cesarean section for pregnant woman with COVID-19. Am J Case Rep. 2020;21:e925512. https://doi.org/10.12659/AJCR.925512
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  • 21 Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG, PRISMA Group. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. PLoS Med. 2009;6(7):e1000097. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097
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  • 22 Yan J, Guo J, Fan C, Juan J, Yu X, Li J, et al. Coronavirus disease 2019 in pregnant women: a report based on 116 cases. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2020;223(1):111.e1-111.e14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2020.04.014
    » https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2020.04.014

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    09 July 2021
  • Date of issue
    2021

History

  • Received
    27 Sept 2020
  • Accepted
    21 Oct 2020
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