María Elena Venegas Martinez, Nesly Lorena Velandia Forero, Tania Acosta Vergara, Rafael Tuesca Molina, Hernando Baquero Latorre, Carla Venegas
Abstract:
Importance: There is little knowledge about the influence of maternal socioeconomic vulnerability in developing COVID-19 infection in newborns. Described neonatal risk factors are mainly biological and do not include social factors.
Objective: To evaluate the association between maternal socioeconomic vulnerability and the development of COVID-19 in newborns admitted to NICU.
Design: Original research, retrospective cohort study, in newborn-mother bond with one-year follow-up, admitted to NICU during the COVID-19 pandemic between March 2020 and December 2021. The primary endpoint was to evaluate maternal socioeconomic status through the Colombian national survey SISBEN-IV and the development of neonatal COVID-19. Data collectors were blinded about the patients’ COVID status.
Participants: 500 mother-child bond records were analyzed and followed for a year. The eligible population required documented SISBEN-IV classification and a newborn nasopharyngeal swab PCR for Sars-Cov-2. The exposed cohort were newborns from mothers with SISBEN-IV A classification (extreme poverty).
Results: 158 (31.8%) mothers were classified in SISBEN-IV group A (extreme poverty). Maternal COVID-19 was higher in the exposed group (8.8% vs 3.8% p=0.02). Exposed newborns had higher COVID-19 incidence compared to unexposed (10.1% vs. 4.7%, p=0.02). Newborns from vulnerable mothers were 2.2 more likely to develop the disease (adjusted OR: 2.24 95%CI 1.06 – 4.69 p-val=0.03).
Conclusion: Understanding the interaction between biological and social factors is essential to impacting infant morbidity and mortality outcomes. We suggest maternal socioeconomic vulnerability be considered a differentiating risk factor for prenatal care and weight control for neonatal disease.