The troubling findings are consistent with some earlier reports that pregnant women may be at increased risk for severe illness when they become infected with the new coronavirus
Hospital workers help COVID-19 patient and Guatemalan asylum seeker Zully to take her first steps after being removed from a ventilator at a Stamford Hospital ICU on April 24, 2020 in Stamford, Connecticut.
Image: John Moore/Getty Images
Pregnant women who are infected with the coronavirus and hospitalized are at risk for developing serious complications and may face an elevated risk for delivering their babies prematurely, according to new studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They may also be at greater risk of losing the pregnancy or having a stillbirth.
The troubling findings are consistent with some earlier reports that pregnant women may be at increased risk for severe illness when they become infected with the new coronavirus. But some experts warned that the findings, drawn from relatively small numbers of patients, including many hospitalized because of COVID-19, may not be representative of all pregnant women who are infected.
The studies found that many hospitalized pregnant women who were infected with the virus did not have any symptoms. Among those who did have symptoms, however, between 16% and 30% required intensive care, and 6% to 8.5% required ventilators to help with breathing. Among the 703 cases described in the two reports, three of the women died.
Both studies found that pregnant women infected with the coronavirus experienced a higher rate of preterm deliveries than expected, and some had stillbirths. Earlier studies have also suggested a higher risk for preterm births, and a British study noted a population-wide uptick in stillbirths during the pandemic.
Pregnancy may make women more vulnerable to infection and severe illness for several reasons. The immune system is suppressed during pregnancy, a response designed to prevent adverse reactions to the fetus but one that increases the mother’s susceptibility to viral infections.
©2019 New York Times News Service