CDC study: Pregnant women at higher risk for COVID-19 complications
A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that pregnant women who contract COVID-19 are at a higher risk for severe illness and death, although the overall risk remains small.
The data – the most comprehensive look at how the coronavirus affects pregnant women – looked at approximately 23,434 pregnant people between the ages of 15 and 44 with symptomatic COVID-19.
Pregnant patients with COVID-19 were three times more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit, and almost three times more likely to be placed on a ventilator than women who weren’t pregnant.
The pregnant women were more likely to die, with 1.5 deaths per 1,000, versus 1.2 deaths per 1,000 in women who weren’t pregnant.
Women over 35 were more likely to experience severe illness whether or not they were pregnant, according to the CDC report.
The majority of women who experienced severe symptoms and complications were in the third trimester.
The study also showed Black, Hispanic and Asian women are at greater risk from COVID-19.
Dr. Michael Aziz, an obstetrics and gynecology physician who specializes in high-risk pregnancy at Allegheny Health Network, advised pregnant women to be vigilant about avoiding coronavirus.
“Do everything in your power not to get coronavirus,” said Aziz, who noted that’s especially significant around two weeks before the due date. “(Delivery) is a very stressful event on the body, and can lead to worse outcomes if you deliver around time you have COVID.”
He and other physicians encourage expecting mothers to take recommended precautions: social distance, wear a face mask and wash hands.
The increased risk in pregnant women, researchers believe, could be because of physiological changes that happen during pregnancy, including decreased lung capacity and changes in the body’s immune system.
Aziz said limited research shows COVID-19 is not passed from the mother to the baby in the womb, but following birth, there is a 3% chance the mother can transfer coronavirus to the infant.
Aziz, a member of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine (SMFM), contended vaccines are the most promising strategy for combating COVID-19.
But he expressed frustration pregnant women have been excluded from clinical trials so far.
“Despite the categorization of pregnancy as a high-risk condition for severe COVID-19, hospitalization, and mortality, pregnancy remains an exclusion for participation in vaccine trials. The SMFM and other leading organizations, including the National Academy of Medicine, have consistently advocated for the inclusion of pregnant and lactating women in vaccination trials,” said a SMFM statement released last week.
The group recommended that pregnant health care workers be offered the vaccine.
Aziz said including pregnant women in vaccine trials is better both scientifically and ethically.
“The existing practice of protection by exclusion is harmful,” Aziz said.