The new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated risks of pregnancy complications caused by COVID-19 symptoms in women. According to this report, pregnant women who are experiencing SARS-CoV-2 have a higher chance of dying and other problems as compared to women who aren’t pregnant. It
These findings will be presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) discussing how this respiratory virus causes pregnancy complications in women. This risk is considerably higher than non-pregnant or asymptomatic COVID-19 patients.
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In addition to this, pregnant mothers who are caught up by a mild to moderate level of COVID-19 infection don’t possess these pregnancy complications. These results are based on the data extracted from 1,219 pregnant mothers who attended 33 different hospitals in 14 US states from March to July 2020.
All these women were COVID-19 positive and only 53% had symptomatic cases. The rest 47% were asymptomatic means they didn’t experience any signs of the virus. Among the symptomatic cases, 27% reported mild signs, 14% showed moderate symptoms and only 8% experienced severe complications. Nearly 4% of women were in a critical stage.
These findings reveal that all pregnant women who were experiencing severe or critical signs were mostly old age, overweight, and had underlying health issues. Many of them reported having asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and obstructive pulmonary disease.
All these women with chronic COVID-19 infection were at high risk of pregnancy complications such as cesarean delivery, hypertension, postpartum hemorrhage, heavy bleeding after delivery, early birth, or death of the mother. Hypertension and early birth may seem like less severe complications but they can lead to long-term dangers in later years of life.
Four women (nearly 0.3%) lost their lives due to these pregnancies complicated caused by COVID-19. This death rate is significantly higher than women losing their lives without being diagnosed with COVID-19. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the average death rate during delivery to be 17.4/ 100,000 births.
Previous research couldn’t establish a link between COVID-19 and how it may cause problems for a pregnant mother or the baby. But this report has presented a wider picture, showing that pregnant women are at high risk of COVID-19 complications and need the same care and treatment as other high-risk patients.
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These results can help doctors to estimate the risk for any patient coming to the hospital for help. In mild or moderate cases of COVID-19, the recovery rate is higher and the time spent in hospital is relatively less. But, if ignored, these mild symptoms can become critical in no time, risking the health of the mother and baby.
CDC urges pregnant women to be more aware of the changes in their bodies. The general guidelines for COVID-19 prevention are to be followed by everyone, including pregnant women and those who have just delivered the baby.
Despite the availability of the vaccine, the only way to save yourself from this deadly disease is by preventing it in the first place. For more details on COVID-19 precautions, visit the CDC website.
