COVID-19 Exposure in Pregnancy and Newborn Anthropometric Measurements
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
7:15am – 7:22am
Location: 410
Authors: Kristen Moriarty, The University of Connecticut Kelsey Manfredi, UConn Health Pascale Carrel, University of Connecticut School of Medicine Roselyn Oyenuga, University of Connecticut Andrea Shields, University of Connecticut Health ,
Some viral agents have been reported to cause fetal growth and development abnormalities. Specially, Zika virus has been associated with the diagnosis of microcephaly. Fetal HC enlarges by approximately 1 mm/day between 26 weeks of gestation and 32 weeks and about 0.7 mm/day between 32 and 40 weeks. Given the importance of fetal neurodevelopment, early recognition and knowledge of specific viruses known to cause aberrant development are paramount. Because the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic did not start until 2020, there is limited data on the effects of COVID-19 during pregnancy and fetal growth. This, it is important to understand the causes and trajectory of fetal growth and development to prevent APOs. We investigated the relationship between newborn anthropometric measurements (length, weight, and head circumference (HC) at birth) and Ponderal Index (PI) and development of SGA between SARS-CoV-2-infected and uninfected mothers. We found that COVID-19 in the third trimester is associated with asymmetric fetal growth, specifically a smaller head circumference.