A Canadian surveillance study published by JAMA found pregnant women who contracted COVID-19 were at a significantly increased risk for COVID-19-related hospitalization and preterm birth.
Researchers collected data from March 2020 to October 2021 from 6012 pregnant women with a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test at any point in pregnancy. Results were compared with 2 groups of age-matched females, one that included women with COVID-19 who weren’t pregnant and another than included pregnant women without COVID-19 infection.
Of the 6012 pregnant women with COVID-19, 7.75% required hospitalization for COVID, 3.4% required oxygen therapy, and 2.01% were admitted to the intensive care unit. Risk for hospitalization in pregnant women with COVID compared to unpregnant women between 20 and 49 years of age with COVID was 7.75% vs 2.93%. Risk of ICU admission between the two groups was 2.01% vs 0.37%.
Worse outcomes occurred in pregnant women with COVID-19 who were older, had preexisting high blood pressure, or who had contracted SARS-CoV-2 at a later stage in pregnancy.
Babies were more likely to be premature in pregnant women with COVID-19, even when cases were milder and did not require hospitalization. The rate of preterm birth in COVID-affected pregnancies was 11.1% compared to 6.8% in unaffected pregnancies.
According to the study, of the COVID cases in the pregnant women during the time span in which data were collected, 98.7% were in unvaccinated women and none of the patients who had at least 2 doses of a COVID vaccine had adverse maternal outcomes.
The study’s authors state that their findings are consistent with US surveillance reports, a Norwegian population-level analysis, and an international living systematic review and meta-analysis. Unlike previous studies reported in this study, researchers did not find higher rates of preeclampsia, stillbirths, or C-section deliveries in COVID-19 pregnancies.
The authors also iterate that results from this study do not generalize to infections caused by the Omicron variant since cases occurred before the Omicron outbreak.
Sources: JAMA
