Monitoring Pregnancy and Infant COVID-19 Outcomes in New Jersey: Developing a Framework for Today's Threat In Preparation for Tomorrow's

Full Description: The New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH), Division of Family Health Services (FHS), Special Child Health and Early Intervention Services (SCHEIS) is implementing the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) request for supplemental data collection for cases of COVID-19 during pregnancy and their infant outcomes. SCHEIS is completing hospital record abstraction to obtain additional information for maternal cases, including any hospital-based care for COVID-19. SCHEIS is also completing medical record abstraction for infants at the newborn, 2-month, and 6-month well visits to monitor for any outcomes that may be related to the mother's COVID-19 infection during pregnancy.

This work is contributing to the knowledge of the impacts of COVID-19 on the pregnant population and the infants born to mother's who experience a COVID-19 infection during pregnancy. The data collected and analyzed by this project is informing the CDC's analysis and understanding of the effects COVID-19 has on these populations. NJ is uniquely suited to contribute to this project as it is incredibly diverse by race/ethnicity, urban/suburban/rural communities, and socioeconomic disparities which provides a robust, informative dataset.

Identification of cases is ongoing by the Communicable Disease Service (CDS) and the Office of Population Health using the pregnancy checkbox in the Communicable Disease Reporting and Surveillance System (CDRSS) and by matching all CDRSS cases to hospital billing data and to birth and fetal death certificate files to identify pregnancies. Cases are defined as having a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test result during an identified pregnancy. This does not include cases where first positive test result was after the delivery date or if the only positive results were by antibody or antigen testing. Infant cases are defined as those born to maternal cases.

As of October 7th, 2021 the NJDOH has identified 10,162 cases of pregnant women who meet this criteria, and we expect this number to increase. As of this date, 5,993 women met case criteria in 2020. We will also speak to the maternal and infant outcomes for identified cases: e.g., live birth vs. stillbirth/miscarriage, maternal ICU admission, outcomes by racial/ethnic groups, infant COVID-19 positivity, etc.. As of October 7th, 2021 some of the data NJ has identified:
99.34% of cases result in live births
0.66% of cases result in stillbirth/miscarriage
2.13% of cases require a maternal ICU admission
0.09% of cases result in a Maternal Deaths
1.00% of infants test positive for COVID-19

Given the nature of this project FHS/SCHEIS now has a framework in place to address the current and any future MCH threat to our MCH populations. Having a framework in place for future MCH threats enables FHS/SCHEIS to have the preparation needed to act on any future threats.

Abbreviated Description: The New Jersey Department of Health, Division of Family Health Services, Special Child Health and Early Intervention Services (SCHEIS) is implementing the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) request for supplemental data collection for cases of COVID-19 during pregnancy and their infant outcomes. This work is informing the CDC of the impacts of COVID-19 on the pregnant population and the infants born to mother's with a COVID-19 infection during pregnancy. NJ is uniquely suited to contribute to this project as it is incredibly diverse by race/ethnicity, geography, and socioeconomic disparities. This project has establish a framework to address the current and future MCH threats. As of October 7th, 2021 SCHEIS identified 10,162 pregnant women who tested positive for COVID-19.