Catching a COVID-19 infection at any time during pregnancy increases a woman and her baby’s risk of serious illness and death, a new study has found. The researchers say their findings stress the importance of protecting pregnant women from the virus through vaccination.
As more and more research on COVID-19 during pregnancy is published, scientists are getting a clearer picture of how the virus affects outcomes for mothers and newborns. However, because of vast differences in how these studies are designed and conducted, it has been challenging for medical experts to draw any definite conclusions from all the data.
The goal of this latest study, published in BMJ Global Health, was to conduct a meta-analysis of multiple different studies. Examining the collated data allowed the researchers to form a reliable conclusion on the severity of the risk that COVID-19 presents in pregnancy.
The researchers compiled 12 different studies, which in total involved 13,136 unvaccinated pregnant women. Each of the 12 studies was conducted in a different country (some of the countries included were Spain, South Africa, China-Hong Kong, Italy, Sweden, and the USA).
All the women involved in the studies underwent PCR tests. Out of all the participants, just under 2,000 (1,942) were confirmed to have the virus during their pregnancy or within seven days of a pregnancy outcome. Meanwhile, 11,194 tested negative either for COVID-19 or for antibodies against it at the time of their delivery.
When analysing the data, the researchers focused on four different types of complications: hospital and critical care, which included admission to the ICU and ventilation use; adverse birth outcomes, including preterm birth and low birth weight; maternal mortality and morbidity, which included maternal death during pregnancy or 42 days postpartum as well as other complications such as placental abruption, haemorrhage, and pre-eclampsia; and foetal and neonatal mortality.
The results showed that, when compared with uninfected women, women who had COVID-19 during pregnancy were at a much greater risk of several serious complications.
Additionally, babies born to women infected with COVID-19 were twice as likely to be admitted to the NICU, three times as likely to be premature, and 19% more likely to be underweight.
However, the study did not find that COVID-19 increased the risk of stillbirth, even though previous studies have suggested a link.
As always, there are a few caveats and limitations with the research to bear in mind. The study was conducted early in the pandemic, when no one had had the vaccination and very few people had developed immunity. Now, most women will have some form of immunity – whether it’s from the vaccine, previous infection, or both – to help them fight the virus and avoid serious complications. The authors also didn’t consider the different variants, such as omicron, and the different impacts they might have.
The study’s authors concluded that their findings underscored “the need for global efforts to prevent COVID-19 during pregnancy through targeted administration of vaccines and non-pharmaceutical interventions.” They also noted that further research is needed to understand how best to care for women with coronavirus.
The Lead author, Dr Emily Smith, who is an assistant professor of global health at George Washington University, added further comment: “We found that women who have Covid in pregnancy are at greater risk of ending up in the intensive care unit or even dying or having some pregnancy-related problems like pre-eclampsia, as compared to their peers who were pregnant at the same time but didn’t get Covid,” she said. She added that vaccination is “really important” for those who are pregnant or wanting to conceive and hoped that the study would encourage more mums-to-be to get vaccinated.
Research has shown that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe at any stage during pregnancy; there is no evidence that the vaccine increases the risk of any complications. The NHS recommends that pregnant women have their two doses and booster as soon as they can. And, because studies indicate that the antibodies pass from the mother to the developing foetus, the vaccine will protect the baby, too.
If you are concerned about the risks of catching COVID-19 during pregnancy, speak to a healthcare professional for guidance.