First follow-up of art pregnancies in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak

Abstract

ObjectiveThe aims of this study were to follow up the monitoring, health and anxiety from women who became pregnant after an embryo transfer or a intrauterine insemination during the COVID-19 epidemic in France Study DesignThis is a single centre, retrospective study from December 2019 to March 2020 based on a phone call interview using a specific questionnaire sheet specially developed for this study. Questionnaires from 104 pregnant women were completed and descriptive data are then analyzed. ResultsWomen with ongoing pregnancies (n = 88) did not change their physician visits. The COVID-19 outbreak has created no or few additional stresses for 77 % of pregnant women since the lockdown started. We report a miscarriage rate of 14.4 % (n = 15) and documented 10 patients (11.3 %) who had symptoms related to COVID-19. No severe symptoms and no hospitalization in intensive care unit were identified. ConclusionThe epidemic context did not disrupt the medical monitoring of pregnancies and we did not recover an increased rate of miscarriage after ART. None of the patients who had COVID-related symptoms presented with severe clinical manifestations. Surprisingly, pregnant women were psychologically able to experience the lockdown.