Clinical characteristics of novel coronavirus infection and efficacy of intranasal interferon in pregnant women with COVID-19 and newborns with perinatal exposure
Objective. To examine the characteristics of pregnancy and to assess the efficacy of intranasal recombinant interferon (IFN) alpha-2b in pregnant women with COVID-19 and in newborns with perinatal exposure. Patients and methods. We examined 200 pregnant women hospitalized with a novel coronavirus infection between May 2020 and January 2021, and 125 neonates born from these pregnant women. Maternal age ranged from 19 to 37 years. The number of first births was 37 (18.5%). All pregnant women were divided into 3 groups by gestational age: Group 1 included 27 (13.5%) pregnant women who had coronavirus infection in the first trimester of pregnancy, Group 2 included 48 (24%) pregnant women who had coronavirus infection in the second trimester, and the Group 3 included 125 (62.5%) pregnant women who had coronavirus infection in the third trimester. Results. The frequency of obstetric complications after novel coronavirus infection increases with gestational age (from 7.4% in the first trimester to 28% in the third trimester). Pregnant women in the second trimester have an increased risk of developing severe forms of novel coronavirus infection and pneumonia (up to 70.8%). The use of recombinant interferon (IFN) alpha-2b in newborns with perinatal exposure to COVID-19 has a preventive effect. Among neonates from COVID-positive mothers who received intranasal recombinant IFN alpha-2b for the prevention only 7.7% of children developed COVID-19, whereas in the group of neonates who did not receive this preventive medicine 20% of children contracted the disease. Conclusion. The use of intranasal recombinant IFN-based medicine (Grippferon®, nasal drops) in pregnant women with COVID-19 for the treatment and in newborns with perinatal exposure to novel coronavirus infection for the prophylactics has a statistically significant positive effect.