Pregnant women with COVID-19 infection more likely to require intensive care, give birth prematurely, claims study

It is already an established fact that people with low immunity, old aged people and the ones with a pre-existing medical condition such as diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, and high blood pressure are more likely to present with severe symptoms of COVID-19.

However, this disease has also caused stress to the women who are expecting a baby during this outbreak as the disease can not only affect them (given their reduced immunity and increased hospital visits at this time) but their babies as well. Cases of vertical transmission (passing of the disease from an expecting mother to her baby) have been reported in some parts of the world now.

In recent research published in the journal BMJ on 1 September 2020, scientists stated that most COVID-19 positive pregnant women are at an increased risk of requiring admission to the intensive care unit (ICU).

Analyzing the risk for pregnant women

An international team of scientists conducted a living systematic review to examine the clinical symptoms, risk factors, and possible outcomes of COVID-19 infection in pregnant and recently pregnant women. The scientists further compared the results with non-pregnant women from a similar age group.

A living systematic review is the one which is continuously updated and incorporates relevant new evidence as soon as it becomes available.

The review was based on 77 studies which reported the rates, clinical symptoms, laboratory reports, x-ray findings, risk factors and results of 11,432 pregnant and recently pregnant women who were admitted to hospitals after getting confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19.

Results of the study

The results of the study showed that pregnant and recently pregnant women with COVID-19 infection are less likely to show symptoms of the disease but can develop the need for intensive care and even ventilation for breathing support. This severity of the condition was more evident in older women who were overweight and presented with pre-existing medical conditions such as hypertension and diabetes.

The scientists further found that COVID-19 positive pregnant women gave birth to more premature babies as compared to pregnant women who weren’t infected.

Moreover, it was also seen that a quarter of these babies born to COVID-19 positive mothers had to be admitted to a neonatal unit. However, the rates of stillbirth and newborn death were low in these babies.

With this review study, scientists concluded that doctors should be prepared to provide intensive care to COVID-19 positive pregnant women and specialist baby care facilities to their newborns.

For more information, read our article on COVID-19 and Pregnancy .

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