New peer-reviewed research published in JAMA finds out that pregnant women who are infected with Covid-19 are more likely to get complications during their pregnancy days and are also at a high risk of death while giving birth, postpartum hemorrhage, and preterm delivery. This study not only provides factual data but also highlights the need for people to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
The study captured more than 13000 pregnant women from 17 different hospitals in America and concluded that women who were infected with Covid-19 and had severe symptoms from the infection were more likely to have Cesarean section and preterm delivery. Moreover, these women were also likely to die of postpartum hemorrhage or while giving birth. On the contrary, women with mild symptoms or without infection were in better condition.
Apart from the above complications, the study found that not only did Covid-19 infections cause severe illnesses like a drop in blood pressure, etc, but it also made many mothers lose their pregnancies and stillborn births.
The researchers found that all of these complications were happening due to severe symptoms of Covid-19 and they also concluded that pregnant women are more likely to experience severe symptoms from the infection when they are infected with the coronavirus. However, the women with milder symptoms or those who were asymptomatic didn’t experience many complications during pregnancy.
As per the professor of gynecology and obstetrics at the University of Utah, Dr, Torri Mentz, who is also the leading figure to conduct this comprehensive research, this research is the first document to find out the risks of Covid-19 associated with pregnancies.
Although this study was conducted before the vaccination mandate was rolled out in America, it highlights the need for vaccination, especially for pregnant women. Dr, Metz said in a statement that this is “why we need to make sure pregnant individuals are vaccinated.” Moreover, he also added, “we know from other studies that vaccination prevents the most severe symptoms of the disease.”
As this research was conducted during the first phase of the Covid infections, most of the positive covid cases started coming in during the third wave. The total number of cases in the third wave was recorded at almost 80%. However, researchers kept this study separate to lay down the risks in pregnancies due to Covid-19 complications. The reason why most medical experts are promoting vaccines and especially for pregnant women is that vaccines have shown positive results in pregnant women by boosting their immunity. This is also proven by a separate study that was published on Monday in JAMA. The study proved that the vaccinated mothers showed a better response to the antibodies and their immunity got better. Apart from that, the vaccination also made antibodies in the infants as well. On the contrary, the mothers who were unvaccinated were still struggling during their pregnancy phase. Co-senior author of the study and a maternal and fetal medicine specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital Dr. Andrea Edlow said that although there is no proof of how vaccination protects the fetus from the infection, it “correlate with protection from serious illness.” She further added, “We hope these findings will provide further incentive for pregnant people to get vaccinated, especially with the emergence of new variants of concern like omicron.”
