Mejía Jiménez I, Salvador López R, García Rosas E, de la Torre IR, Montes García J, de la Cruz Conty ML, Martínez Pérez O; Spanish Obstetric Emergency Group. Umbilical cord clamping and skin-to-skin contact in deliveries from women positive for SARS-CoV-2: a prospective observational study. BJOG. 2020 Nov 13. doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.16597. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33187026.

Objective: To demonstrate that delayed cord clamping (DCC) is safe in mothers with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Design, setting, and participants: Prospective, observational study involving epidemiological information from 403 pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 between March 1st and May 31st , 2020. Data were collected from 70 centers that participate in the Spanish Registry of COVID-19.

Methods: Patient’s information was collected from their medical chart.

Main outcomes and measures: The rate of perinatal transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and development of the infection in neonates within 14 days postpartum.

Results: The Early cord clamping (ECC) group consisted of 231 infants (57.3%), whereas the DCC group consisted of 172 infants (42.7%). A total of 5 positive newborns (1.7% of total tests performed) were identified with the nasopharyngeal PCR tests performed in the first 12 hours postpartum, 2 from the ECC group (1.7%) and 3 from the DCC group (3.6%). No significant differences between groups were found regarding neonatal tests for SARS-CoV-2. No confirmed cases of vertical transmission were detected. The percentage of mothers who made skin-to-skin contact within the first 24 hours after delivery was significantly higher in the DCC group (84.3% versus 45.9%). Breastfeeding in the immediate postpartum period was also significantly higher in the DCC group (77.3% versus 50.2%).

Conclusions: The results of our study have found no differences in perinatal outcomes when performing ECC or DCC, and skin-to-skin contact, and breastfeeding.