1. Introduction
The recent outbreak of COVID-19 pneumonia, caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus,
has highlighted the role of viral infections during pregnancy as
well.1-3 The
importance of these diseases will probably increase as we face growing
risks of pandemics, which may affect the pregnant mother and the
foetus4.
Viral infections during pregnancy raise several clinical challenges
including adverse pregnancy outcomes and birth defects in the
offspring.5 Previous studies have shown that SARS
during pregnancy may result in spontaneous miscarriage, preterm
delivery, and intrauterine growth restriction.6
Other maternal viral infections (e.g. cytomegalovirus, hepatitis B,
herpes simplex, influenza, rubella, varicella zoster) have also been
found to affect foetal development.4,7,8 However, the
results of these studies are conflicting.
The Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities
(HCCSCA) is one of the largest case-control data sets of birth defect
surveillance in the world.9 The total number of
control new-borns (without any congenital anomaly) in this database is
57,231.
The aim of the present study was to estimate the effect of viral
infections on the development of pregnancy complications and on birth
outcome, using the data set of the HCCSCA.