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Objective: To correlate clinical outcomes to pathology in SARS‐CoV‐2 infected placentas in stillborn and live‐born infants presenting with fetal distress. Design: Retrospective, observational. Setting: Nationwide. Population Five stillborn and nine live‐born infants from 13 pregnant women infected with SARS‐CoV‐2 seeking care at seven different maternity units in Sweden. Methods: Clinical outcomes and placental pathology were studied in 14 cases (one twin pregnancy) of maternal SARS‐CoV‐2 infection with impaired fetal outcome. Outcomes were correlated to placental pathology in order to investigate the impact of virus‐related pathology on the villous capillary endothelium, trophoblast and other cells. Main outcome measures: Maternal and fetal clinical outcomes and placental pathology in stillborn and live‐born infants. Results: Reduced fetal movements were reported (77%) and time from onset of maternal COVID‐19 symptoms to signs of fetal distress among live‐born infants was 6 (3–12) days and to diagnosis of stillbirth 11 (2–25) days. Two of the live‐born infants died during the postnatal period. Signs of fetal distress led to emergency caesarean section in all live‐born infants with umbilical cord blood gases and low Apgar scores confirming intrauterine hypoxia. Five stillborn and one live‐born neonate had confirmed congenital transmission. Massive perivillous fibrinoid deposition, intervillositis and trophoblast necrosis were associated with SARS‐CoV‐2 placental infection and congenital transmission. Conclusions: SARS‐CoV‐2 can cause rapid placental dysfunction with subsequent acute fetal hypoxia leading to intrauterine fetal compromise. Associated placental pathology included massive perivillous fibrinoid deposition, intervillositis and trophoblast degeneration. SARS‐CoV‐2 can cause rapid placental dysfunction and intrauterine fetal compromise. Linked article: This article is commented on by Yves Ville, pp. 1375 in this issue. To view this minicommentary visit https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.17162. This article includes Author Insights, a video abstract available at: https://vimeo.com/bjog/authorinsights17132 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

* Context.--Perinatal death is an increasingly important problem as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues, but the mechanism of death has been unclear. Objective.--To evaluate the role of the placenta in causing stillbirth and neonatal death following maternal infection with COVID-19 and confirmed placental positivity for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Design.--Case-based retrospective clinicopathologic analysis by a multinational group of 44 perinatal specialists from 12 countries of placental and autopsy pathology findings from 64 stillborns and 4 neonatal deaths having placentas testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 following delivery to mothers with COVID-19. Results.--Of the 3 findings constituting SARS-CoV-2 placentitis, all 68 placentas had increased fibrin deposition and villous trophoblast necrosis and 66 had chronic histiocytic intervillositis. Sixty-three placentas had massive perivillous fibrin deposition. Severe destructive placental disease from SARS-CoV-2 placentitis averaged 77.7% tissue involvement. Other findings included multiple intervillous thrombi (37%; 25 of 68) and chronic villitis (32%; 22 of 68). The majority (19; 63%) of the 30 autopsies revealed no significant fetal abnormalities except for intrauterine hypoxia and asphyxia. Among all 68 cases, SARS-CoV-2 was detected from a body specimen in 16 of 28 cases tested, most frequently from nasopharyngeal swabs. Four autopsied stillborns had SARS-CoV-2 identified in internal organs. Conclusions.--The pathology abnormalities composing SARS-CoV-2 placentitis cause widespread and severe placental destruction resulting in placental malperfusion and insufficiency. In these cases, intrauterine and perinatal death likely results directly from placental insufficiency and fetal hypoxic-ischemic injury. There was no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 involvement of the fetus had a role in causing these deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]