and data collected is too limited to answer questions that are better suited to
alternative study design).
We considered the possibility of more selective reporting e.g. those admitted to hospital
with COVID disease or ICU admissions only. However, we will still have low numbers by
comparison to other countries and the level of work required to do this well and the
impact on clinicians and the central team make this impractical and does not justify the
output. However,
we do plan to keep the Registry alive (ethics approval etc) and so if a
new variant of concern arises in New Zealand early in its time course we can restart
notifications and we will let you know if this is proposed.
We are
committed to obtaining the highest quality data possible for the Registry to date
and so once this Omicron wave is settling we will be in touch with each site to ensure we
have captured as much data as possible, including retrospectively for any cases up to 1st
February 2022.
One of the main aims of this project was to establish a central pregnancy registry that
could not only work for COVID but also
other rare diseases/conditions in pregnancy for
use in the future. As you will know UKOSS has been running for many years and they were
very quickly able to utilise their system to gain extremely helpful, almost real-time,
information for COVID in pregnancy that has been used throughout the world (>17, 000
cases of COVID in pregnancy hospital admissions). We have had a few teething issues but
are really pleased in how so many came together early (with support from all our
professional colleges) to set up the Registry and for so many DHBs being willing to come
on-board including nominations for local site contacts. We plan to
review the process we
have used and improve it so we will have a system that can be activated quickly and
support our understanding of new and rare diseases in the future.
Please feel free to share this information with your teams, we will also be making sure the
message is circulated more widely.
So thank you again for all your work on the Registry to date. Please take a well-deserved
break from notifications for now. We will be in touch soon about missing cases and data
up to 1st February 2022.
Ngā mihi nui
Katie
on behalf of the
New Zealand COVID-19 in Pregnancy Registry team
Katie Groom
Associate Professor of Maternal and Perinatal Health
Hugo Charitable Trust Research Fellow
Maternal Fetal Medicine Subspecialist
T +64 9 373 7599 ext 89823
E [email address]
W www.liggins.auckland.ac.nz
A The University of Auckland, Building 505, Level 2, 85 Park Road, Auckland
