Coronavirus while pregnant is more dangerous for Black, Hispanic women, CDC study says
There has been limited information about how the novel coronavirus affects pregnant women in the U.S., and even more so how the disease affects their babies both in the womb and after birth.
But new research from local, state and federal health officials reveals that pregnant women who test positive for COVID-19 are more likely to be hospitalized, admitted into the intensive care unit and receive mechanical ventilation than non-pregnant women, according to a report published Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And in line with existing trends on minorities and the coronavirus, Hispanic and Black pregnant women appear to be the most affected, the researchers say.
A silver lining: The risk for death from COVID-19 remains about the same between pregnant and non-pregnant women.
“Pregnant women might be at increased risk for severe COVID-19 illness,” the researchers said. “To reduce occurrence of severe illness from COVID-19, pregnant women should be counseled about the potential risk for severe illness from COVID-19, and measures to prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2 should be emphasized for pregnant women and their families.”
Until now, there was little data that explained if and how COVID-19 affects pregnant women differently, so experts turned to similar viruses that have posed high risks of severe illness for pregnant women to understand how SARS-CoV-2 might behave, the CDC said.
Changes that occur in a pregnant woman’s body may make them more vulnerable to infections, and sometimes cause adverse health outcomes for the mother and baby, according to the agency.
What did the study find?
Data on 8,207 pregnant women and 83,205 non-pregnant women reported from Jan. 22 to June 7, and later updated on June 17, were collected from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., according to the study. The women were between the ages of 15 and 44.
After adjusting for age, underlying health conditions, race and ethnicity, pregnant women were “5.4 times more likely to be hospitalized, 1.5 times more likely to be admitted to the ICU and 1.7 times more likely to receive mechanical ventilation than non-pregnant women,” the researchers said.
Of the pregnant women studied who tested positive for the coronavirus, 46% were Hispanic, 23% were white and 22% were Black.
The researchers said these numbers differ from those of pregnant women reported in 2019: 24% were Hispanic, 51% were white and 15% were Black, suggesting “pregnant women who are Hispanic and Black might be disproportionately affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy.”
Looking at age alone, hospitalizations, ICU admission and receipt of mechanical ventilation were more frequent among older women between ages 35 and 44 compared to those aged between 15 and 24 years, “regardless of pregnancy status,” the study said.
When it comes to symptoms, similar numbers of pregnant and non-pregnant women showed them, but the later reported more “fever, muscle aches, chills, headache and diarrhea” compared to their pregnant counterparts.
The finding suggests “that signs and symptoms of COVID-19 might differ between pregnant and nonpregnant women,” the researchers said.
Pregnant women did, however, report more frequently having “diabetes mellitus, chronic lung disease and cardiovascular disease,” but “additional information is needed to distinguish medical conditions that developed before pregnancy from those that developed during pregnancy, and to determine whether this distinction affects clinical outcomes of COVID-19,” the study said.
Data limitations
There are some limitations to the data, the researchers said.
Pregnancy status was missing for three quarters of women “of reproductive age with SARS-CoV-2 infection,” according to the study.
Data on race, ethnicity, symptoms and underlying health conditions were also missing from a “large proportion of cases,” which “could lead to overestimation or underestimation.”
Information on a pregnant woman’s trimester at the time of infection, or whether they were hospitalized because of COVID-19 or not, was also not available at the time of data collection, the researchers said.
Lastly, coronavirus case surveillance does not monitor pregnancy or birth outcomes, the study said, meaning it remains unclear if COVID-19 infection equates to negative outcomes such as pregnancy loss or preterm birth.
“Specific actions pregnant women can take include not skipping prenatal care appointments, limiting interactions with other people as much as possible, taking precautions to prevent getting COVID-19 when interacting with others, having at least a 30-day supply of medicines, and talking to their health care provider about how to stay healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the researchers said.
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Coronavirus while pregnant is more dangerous for Black, Hispanic women, CDC study says."
