Association of placental histopathological findings with COVID-19 and its predictive factors.

OBJECTIVE

The aims of the study are to describe the association of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) with the abnormal histopathological findings in human placenta and to highlight the potential predictors of these histopathological findings.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort study, held in two obstetric units from January 2021- 2022, 34 patients who were confirmed cases of COVID- 19 were followed up till the time of delivery as their placenta were sent for histopathology. Patients diagnosed with other viral infections, chorioamnionitis, or were known case of as pre-term or term pre labour rupture of membrans (PROM) were excluded as well as pre exisiting diabetes mellitus or pre-eclampsia. Data analysis were performed using STATA software version 16.

RESULT: Specific histopatological findings (fetal vascular malperfusion, maternal vascular malperfusion, inflammatory pathology and thrombotic finding) were significantly high among 13 (38.2%) of the study group who got infected earlier in pregnancy (P<0.001). The period between the diagnosis of COVID-19 and the delivery significantly increases the odds of the presence of pathological findings by 2.75 times for each week the patients getting infected earlier.

CONCLUSION

Association of abnormal placental histopathological findings with COVID-19 infection in pregnancy and the potential predictor for the occurrence of placental findings is the longer duration between the diagnosis of the infection and the delivery.