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.