Can Pregnancy Raise COVID-19 Complications?

Pregnant people with COVID-19 infection are at higher risk of COVID-19 complications like hospitalization, ventilation, and death.

Risk of severe COVID-19 complications like hospitalization, ventilation, and death is found to be increased in pregnant people when compared to pregnant people without COVID-19 as per a study at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

However, little is known about how the timing of COVID-19 infection during pregnancy might impact a pregnant person’s risk of developing severe symptoms.

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‘Pregnant people with COVID-19 infection are at higher risk of COVID-19 complications like hospitalization, ventilation, and death.’

In a new study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting™, which is being held virtually, researchers will unveil findings that suggest the severity of COVID-19 does not differ by trimester.

“Regardless of what trimester they are in, pregnant people are at risk of developing severe COVID illness,” said one of the study’s authors, Rachel Schell, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine fellow at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Researchers identified a group of pregnant people at a single urban hospital in Dallas, Parkland Hospital, and followed the progression of their COVID-19 symptoms.

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From March 18, 2020, to May 31, 2021, 1,092 pregnant people were diagnosed with COVID-19. Sixty-seven people (6 percent) were diagnosed in the first trimester, 309 (28 percent) in the second trimester, and 716 (66 percent) in the third trimester. There were no significant demographic differences between the groups.

Across all trimesters, 993 out of 1,092 people (90.9 percent) were either asymptomatic or had mild COVID-19 symptoms, and 35 out of 345 people (10.1 percent) who were initially asymptomatic developed moderate, severe, or critical symptoms.

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Among pregnant patients who were initially asymptomatic or had mild symptoms in any trimester, 5 percent developed a moderate, severe, or critical illness.

“This research is helpful for us in counseling patients who test positive for COVID,” said another one of the study’s authors, Emily Adhikari, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine subspecialist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and medical director of perinatal infectious diseases at Parkland Hospital. “There is no reason to be hesitant to get vaccinated because you are early in your pregnancy. You’re still at risk of getting really sick from COVID in your first trimester.”

Researchers are in the process of expanding their research to look at whether there are significant differences or changes in COVID severity by trimester due to the Delta variant.

Source-Eurekalert