METHODOLOGY
A literature review of published articles was carried out by two independent authors using the keywords: Corona Virus (and its derivatives to expand the search pool: COVID-19, n-CoV, novel corona virus), Pregnancy, Childbirth and Vertical Transmission. This search was carried out on Medline, Cochrane Database, Web of Sciences, Clinicaltrials.gov and CINAHL. Articles were filtered according to years (2019-2020) and articles in English language were kept. Editorials and Letter to Editors were not included in the initial search, however case reports and case series were included to increase the number of cases and variety of presentation. Various guidelines and expert perspective reports were also included to enhance the content of the manuscript as being efficient resource for readers and clinical practitioners.
Two independent reviewers initially screened the articles on the basis of title and abstract. The shortlisted articles then underwent full text review by two independent authors. Any discrepancies were resolved by a third author. Risk bias analysis and quality of non-randomized studies such as case-control and cohort studies was judged using Newcastle Ottawa Score (NOS), case reports/series using “Methodological Quality of Case Reports and Case Series” (MQC): a validated scale published in BMJ 11 and systematic reviews using AMSTAR reporting guidelines12.
Data from the manuscript was then extrapolated on a pre-structured worksheet. Due to limitation of time, the review was not registered in any registry however all the corresponding authors have been kept in loop with respect to every aspect of manuscript preparation. Due to time constraints, the systematic review couldn’t have been registered in PROSPERO. PRISMA guidelines for conduction of systematic review was followed to ensure accuracy and consistency13.