Table 3.

Characteristics and quality assessment of the studies included in this review. CARE, CAse REport; COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; RNA, ribonucleic acid; RT–PCR, reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction; STROBE, Strengthening The Reporting of OBservational Studies in Epidemiology.

Authors	Date of publication	Country	Study design	Surgery	Method of suspecting/diagnosing COVID-19 in patient(s)	Sample size	STROBE/CARE score (%)∗
Alzamora and colleagues16	18/04/2020	Peru	Case report	Caesarean section	Nasopharyngeal RT–PCR, CT	1	22 (61)
Catellani and colleagues17	30/04/2020	Italy	Case series	Orthopaedic	Oropharyngeal RT–PCR, thoracic CT	16 (13 underwent surgery)	21 (58)
Chehrassan and colleagues18	14/04/2020	Iran	Cross-sectional	5 Orthopaedic, 1 abdominal	High-resolution CT	7 (6 underwent surgery)	12 (37)
Chen and colleagues19	16/03/2020	China	Case series	Caesarean section	Nasal RT–PCR, chest CT	17	22 (61)
Doglietto and colleagues20	12/06/2020	Italy	Cohort	22 Orthopaedic, 7 vascular, 6 neurological, 5 general, 1 thoracic	Nasopharyngeal RT–PCR, chest CT, chest radiography	41	26 (76)
Dong and colleagues21	26/03/2020	China	Case report	Caesarean section	Nasopharyngeal RT–PCR, chest CT	1	18 (50)
Du and colleagues22	19/05/2020	China	Case report	Caesarean section	Pharyngeal RT–PCR, CT	1	18 (50)
Ferrazzi and colleagues23	27/04/2020	Italy	Case series	Caesarean section	Throat swab RT–PCR (confirmative chest X-ray)	42 (18 underwent surgery)	19 (52)
Firstenberg and colleagues24	19/04/2020	USA	Case report	Cardiothoracic	CT (preoperatively), RT–PCR (postoperatively, not explicitly stated)	1	25 (69)
Gao and colleagues25	18/04/2020	China	Case series	Abdominal	Chest CT and radiography (preoperatively), oropharyngeal RT–PCR (postoperatively)	4	17 (47)
Gidlöf and colleagues26	06/04/2020	Sweden	Case report	Caesarean section	Nasopharyngeal RNA test	1	15 (41)
He and colleagues27	21/03/2020	China	Case series	Cardiothoracic	CT and clinical symptoms	4	13 (36)
Lee and colleagues28	31/03/2020	Republic of Korea	Case report	Caesarean section	Sputum and nasopharyngeal RT–PCR, chest CT, and chest radiography	1	21 (58)
Li and colleagues29	2020, exact data unclear	China	Case report	Caesarean section	RT–PCR (not explicitly stated) of sputum sample	1	20 (55)
Lu and colleagues30	24/04/2020	China	Case report	Caesarean section	Throat swab RT–PCR, chest CT	1	24 (66)
Lyra and colleagues31	20/04/2020	Portugal	Case report	Caesarean section	Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal RT–PCR	1	18 (50)
Mi and colleagues32	09/06/2020	China	Case series	Not reported	Not reported	28	7 (19)
Nepogodiev and colleagues33	29/05/2020	24 countries (led by UK)	Cohort	373 gastrointestinal and general, 302 orthopaedic, 86 cardiothoracic, 62 hepatobiliary, 51 obstetric, 45 vascular, 40 head and neck, 39 neurosurgery, 37 urological, 57 other and 36 missing	Nasal swab or bronchoalveolar lavage RT–PCR, relevant clinical symptoms (including cough, fever, or myalgia), or radiological findings (thorax CT)	1128	33 (97)
Song and colleagues34	26/02/2020	China	Case report	Caesarean section	Throat and faecal RT–PCR, chest CT	1	22 (61)
Sun and colleagues35	28/04/2020	China	Case series	Caesarean section	Pharyngeal, laryngeal, throat and tracheal tube tip RT–PCR	3	18 (50)
Wang and colleagues36	28/02/2020	China	Case report	Caesarean section	Throat swab RT–PCR, chest CT	1	21 (58)
Xia and colleagues37	17/03/2020	China	Case report	Caesarean section	Oropharyngeal RT–PCR, chest CT	1	14 (38)
Zeng and colleagues38	26/03/2020	China	Case series	Caesarean section	Symptoms, chest CT scan, and RT–PCR	6	9 (25)
Zhang and colleagues39	08/04/2020	China	Case series	Caesarean section	Suspected: abnormal CT (ground-glass opacity and bilateral patchy shadowing), coupled with typical clinical symptoms (fever, cough, headache, sore throat, shortness of breath), sputum. Confirmed: nasopharyngeal RT–PCR	4	17 (47)
Zhao and colleagues40	18/03/2020	China	Clinical study	10 abdominal, 2 cardiovascular, 6 orthopaedic, 11 gynaecology and obstetrics, 2 neurosurgery and 6 other	Laboratory, imaging (CT) and clinical findings (body temperature)	37	10 (29)
Zhong and colleagues41	28/03/2020	China	Case series	45 Caesarean section, 4 orthopaedic	Radiology for inclusion in study, confirmation through throat swab RT–PCR	49	26 (72)

^∗Details of the STROBE and CARE scores are provided in the Methods section.