Infection with Covid-19 increases the risk of maternal death at any time during pregnancy and is linked to serious illness in both mothers and newborns, shows a study recently published in the British Medical Journal Global Health. Study authors found that pregnant women with Covid infection had an almost four times greater risk of needing intensive care than pregnant women without infection.
The probability of artificial respiration was 15 times higher. Infected pregnant women were also five times more likely to need some type of intensive treatment, including for causes other than Covid-19 infection. The risk of pneumonia was 23 times more likely, and that of a serious blood clot was five times more likely.
Data from twelve countries
A total of approximately 13,100 pregnant women from twelve countries were examined. Newborns were also found to have greater health risks. Babies born to women infected with Covid-19 during pregnancy were nearly twice as likely to be admitted to a neonatal unit. In addition, the probability of a premature birth (before the 34th week) was three times higher than that of babies whose mothers did not have Covid 19 infection during pregnancy. The baby’s risk of being underweight at birth was increased by 19 percent.
No increased risk was found for stillbirth after 28 weeks of gestation, nor for growth restriction.
One limitation is that the study does not take into account the different effects of the different variants that have emerged since the beginning of the pandemic. Despite these caveats, “these findings underscore the need for global efforts to prevent COVID-19 during pregnancy through the delivery of targeted vaccines and non-pharmaceutical interventions,” the researchers write.