Table 1.
SARS-CoV-2 positive women characteristics by mode of delivery
| Vaginal deliveries | Caesarean sections | Total* | p-value | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 3,574 | n = 1,777 | N = 5,360 | |||||
| n | % | n | % | n | % | ||
| Pandemic phase | |||||||
| Wild-type virus, phase 1 (25 February—May 31, 2020) | 202 | 5.7 | 103 | 5.8 | 307 | 5.7 | p = 0.692 |
| Wild-type virus, phase 2 (June 1—August 31, 2020) | 78 | 2.2 | 39 | 2.2 | 117 | 2.2 | |
| Wild-type virus, phase 3 (September 1, 2020 – January 31, 2021) | 1,175 | 32.9 | 607 | 34.2 | 1788 | 33.4 | |
| Alpha variant (February 1—June 30, 2021) | 422 | 11.8 | 222 | 12.5 | 644 | 12.0 | |
| Omicron variant (January 1—May 31, 2022) | 1,697 | 47.5 | 806 | 45.4 | 2504 | 46.7 | |
| Age | |||||||
| < 30 years | 1,279 | 36.4 | 506 | 28.8 | 1,789 | 33.9 | p < 0.001 |
| 30–34 years | 1,200 | 34.1 | 582 | 33.2 | 1,787 | 33.9 | |
| ≥ 35 years | 1,035 | 29.5 | 667 | 38.0 | 1,702 | 32.2 | |
| missing | 60 | 1.7 | 22 | 1.2 | 82 | 1.5 | |
| Citizenship | |||||||
| Not Italian | 934 | 26.1 | 439 | 24.7 | 1,373 | 25.6 | p = 0.260 |
| Italian | 2,640 | 73.9 | 1,338 | 75.3 | 3,987 | 74.4 | |
| Level of education | |||||||
| Low | 810 | 29.7 | 365 | 28.9 | 1,177 | 29.5 | p = 0.357 |
| Medium | 1,238 | 45.5 | 604 | 47.8 | 1,843 | 46.2 | |
| High | 675 | 24.8 | 294 | 23.3 | 969 | 24.3 | |
| missing | 851 | 23.8 | 514 | 28.9 | 1,371 | 25.6 | |
| Parity | |||||||
| Nulliparous | 1,571 | 44.6 | 752 | 43.4 | 2,329 | 44.3 | |
| Multiparous | 1,948 | 55.4 | 979 | 56.6 | 2,930 | 55.7 | p = 0.410 |
| missing | 55 | 1.5 | 46 | 2.6 | 101 | 1.9 | |
| Gestational age at birth | |||||||
| ≤ 31 weeks | 17 | 0.5 | 83 | 4.7 | 101 | 1.9 | p < 0.001 |
| 32–36 weeks | 173 | 4.9 | 255 | 14.5 | 428 | 8.1 | |
| ≥ 37 weeks | 3,351 | 94.6 | 1,425 | 80.8 | 4,777 | 90.0 | |
| missing | 33 | 0.9 | 14 | 0.8 | 54 | 1.0 | |
| COVID-19 pneumonia | |||||||
| No | 3,463 | 96.9 | 1,621 | 91.2 | 5,091 | 95.0 | p < 0.001 |
| Yes | 111 | 3.1 | 156 | 8.8 | 269 | 5.0 | |
| Peridural anaesthesia in vaginal deliveries | |||||||
| No | 2,463 | 79.2 | |||||
| Yes | 645 | 20.8 | |||||
| missing | 466 | 13.0 | |||||
| Type of caesarean section | |||||||
| Elective | 778 | 43.8 | |||||
| Urgent/emergency due to maternal/foetal indication | 934 | 52.6 | |||||
| Urgent/emergency due to COVID-19 | 65 | 3.7 | |||||
| Volume of deliveries of maternity units | |||||||
| < 1,000 | 981 | 28.0 | 461 | 26.5 | 1,444 | 27.5 | p = 0.381 |
| 1,000–1,999 | 1,264 | 36.0 | 621 | 35.7 | 1,888 | 35.9 | |
| ≥ 2,000 | 1,263 | 36.0 | 657 | 37.8 | 1,924 | 36.6 | |
| missing | 66 | 1.8 | 38 | 2.1 | 104 | 1.9 | |
| Geographical location of maternity units | |||||||
| North Italy | 2,406 | 67.3 | 978 | 55.0 | 3,389 | 63.2 | p < 0.001 |
| Centre Italy | 483 | 13.5 | 235 | 13.2 | 718 | 13.4 | |
| South Italy | 685 | 19.2 | 564 | 31.7 | 1,253 | 23.4 | |
Percentages were calculated based on cases with known information
*9 women with unknown information on mode of delivery