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Pregnant women with COVID-19 are at greater risk for hospitalization, ICU admission and receipt of mechanical ventilation compared with nonpregnant women of the same age, according to findings published in MMWR. In addition, Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black women who are pregnant are disproportionately impacted by SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy, the findings demonstrate.
“During pregnancy, women experience immunologic and physiologic changes that could increase their risk for more severe illness from respiratory infections,” Sascha Ellington, PhD, of the CDC’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Team, and colleagues wrote. “To date, data to assess the prevalence and severity of COVID-19 among pregnant U.S. women and determine whether signs and symptoms differ among pregnant and nonpregnant women are limited.” Between Jan. 22 and June 7, CDC received reports of 326,335 women of reproductive age (15 to 44 years) who had positive test results for SARS-CoV-2. Of the 91,412 (28%) women with laboratory-confirmed infections for whom data on pregnancy status were available, 8,207 (9%) were pregnant. While symptomatic pregnant and nonpregnant women with COVID-19 reported comparable rates of cough (more than 50%) and shortness of breath (30%), pregnant women reported headache, muscle aches, fever, chills and diarrhea less often. Additionally, among women with COVID-19, 31.5% of pregnant women were reported to have been hospitalized compared with 5.8% of nonpregnant women. After adjusting for age, the presence of underlying medical conditions and race/ethnicity, pregnant women were significantly more likely to be admitted to the ICU (adjusted RR = 1.5, 95% CI, 1.2-1.8) and receive mechanical ventilation (aRR = 1.7, 95% CI, 1.2-2.4). According to the study results, 16 (0.2%) COVID-19-related deaths were reported among pregnant women aged 15 to 44 years and 208 (0.2%) such deaths were reported among nonpregnant women (aRR = 0.9, 95% CI, 0.5-1.5).
“Pregnant women might be at increased risk for severe COVID-19 illness,” the authors wrote. “To reduce severe COVID-19-associated illness, pregnant women should be aware of their potential risk for severe COVID-19 illness. Prevention of COVID-19 should be emphasized for pregnant women and potential barriers to adherence to these measures need to be addressed.”
