ReviewPaediatric and perinatal epidemiology2022
COVID-19 in pregnancy-what study designs can we use to assess the risk of congenital anomalies in relation to COVID-19 disease, treatment and vaccination?
Review in Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- The EUROmediCAT Network and Databases: A Resource for Pharmacovigilance in Pregnancy.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2026Article
- Association of COVID-19 vaccination before 12 weeks of gestation with ultrasound-detected congenital anomalies compared with later or no vaccination: A registry-based cohort study.SAGE open medicine · 2026Article
- Congenital anomalies in Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil: macroregional and temporal birth prevalence for the period 2011-2020.Journal of community genetics · 2024Article
- In need of robust evidence of non-association of pregestational and early pregnancy SARS-CoV-2 infections with congenital anomalies.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Review
- How Much Does SARS-CoV-2 Infection during Pregnancy Affect the Neonatal Brain, Heart, and Kidney? A Parallel between COVID-19, Vaccination, and Normal Pregnancy.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Data sources on COVID-19 infection and vaccination in pregnancy on the island of Ireland: strengths, weaknesses, and recommendations for future pandemic preparedness.HRB open research · 2024Article
- The COVID-19 Vaccines International Pregnancy Exposure Registry (C-VIPER): Protocol and Methodological Considerations.Drug safety · 2023Article
- A population-based matched cohort study of major congenital anomalies following COVID-19 vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infection.Nature communications · 2023Article
- COVID-19 in pregnancy-what study designs can we use to assess the risk of congenital anomalies in relation to COVID-19 disease, treatment and vaccination?Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated pregnancy outcome research, but little attention has been given specifically to the risk of congenital anomalies (CA) and first trimester exposures.
objectivesWe reviewed the main data sources and study designs used internationally, particularly in Europe, for CA research, and their strengths and limitations for investigating COVID-19 disease, medications and vaccines. POPULATION: We classify research designs based on four data sources: a) spontaneous adverse event reporting, where study subjects are positive for both exposure and outcome, b) pregnancy exposure registries, where study subjects are positive for exposure, c) congenital anomaly registries, where study subjects are positive for outcome and d) population healthcare data where the entire population of births is included, irrespective of exposure and outcome. STUDY
designEach data source allows different study designs, including case series, exposed pregnancy cohorts (with external comparator), ecological studies, case-control studies and population cohort studies (with internal comparator).
methodsThe quality of data sources for CA studies is reviewed in relation to criteria including diagnostic accuracy of CA data, size of study population, inclusion of terminations of pregnancy for foetal anomaly, inclusion of first trimester COVID-19-related exposures and use of an internal comparator group. Multinational collaboration models are reviewed.
resultsPregnancy exposure registries have been the main design for COVID-19 pregnancy studies, but lack detail regarding first trimester exposures relevant to CA, or a suitable comparator group. CA registries present opportunities for improving diagnostic accuracy in COVID-19 research, especially when linked to other data sources. Availability of inpatient hospital medication use in population healthcare data is limited. More use of ongoing mother-baby linkage systems would improve research efficiency. Multinational collaboration delivers statistical power.
conclusionsChallenges and opportunities exist to improve research on CA in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.