Pregnant women infected with coronavirus require immediate medical attention - ICMR study
New Delhi: During these rough times of the pandemic, the effects of novel coronavirus on pregnant women remain a griming question. A new study by the ICMR has stated that coronavirus can infect a higher proportion of pregnant women who can have moderate to severe infection and the affected women will require immediate medical attention. The study is published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research.
The study was conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) in collaboration with other government institutes and hospitals on pregnant women in Maharashtra. The data was collected from the PregCovid registry that collects information in near real-time on pregnant and post-partum women with laboratory confirmation of COVID-19 from 19 medical colleges across the state of Maharashtra, reported ANI.
Based on the data collected from 4,203 pregnant women during the first wave of the COVID-19 (March 2020-January 2021), the researchers found the following:
- There were 3,213 live births,77 miscarriages,834 undelivered pregnancies.
- The proportion of pregnancy/fetal loss including stillbirths was six percent.
- Five hundred and thirty-four women (13 per cent) were symptomatic, of which 382 (72 percent) had mild, 112 (21 percent) had moderate, and 40 (7.5 percent) had severe disease.
- The most common complication was preterm delivery (528, 16.3 percent) and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (328, 10.1 percent).
- A total of 158 (3.8 percent) pregnant and post-partum women required intensive care, of which 152 (96 percent) were due to COVID-19 related complications.
- The utmost common complication came out to be preterm delivery (528, 16.3%) and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (328, 10.1%).
- A total of 158 (3.8%) pregnant and post-partum women required intensive care, out of which 152 (96%) were related to COVID-19 complications.
- The case fatality rate was 0.8%. Higher fatality was observed in Pune (1.1%, 9/853), Marathwada (1.1%, 4/351) regions when compared to Vidarbha (0.8%, 9/1155), Mumbai Metropolitan (0.7%, 11/1684), and Khandesh (0.6%,1/160) regions.
- There were a total of 34 deaths reported among pregnant and post-partum women with COVID-19, and out of 34 maternal deaths, 10 women died during the post-partum period.
- Comorbidities such as anemia, tuberculosis, and diabetes mellitus were associated with an increased risk of maternal death in pregnant and post-partum women with COVID-19, the study said.
"Thus, our analysis suggests that SARS-CoV-2 may infect a higher proportion of pregnant women, and when symptomatic, a large proportion can develop moderate-to-severe diseases. Therefore, pregnant women with COVID-19 need immediate medical attention from the healthcare system in India. However, in the absence of detailed data of pre-term birth from pregnant women without COVID-19, it is difficult to comment if COVID-19 is a risk factor for pre-term birth, said the study by ICMR.
Pregnancy loss is a major health concern for obstetricians and whether Covid-19 is a contributing risk factor is an important aspect to be considered, it said.
Reference:
Gajbhiye RK, Mahajan NN, Waghmare RB, Zala S, Chaaithanya IK, Kuppusamy P, Bhurke AV, Pious M, Surve S, Modi DN, Mahale SD. Clinical characteristics, outcomes, & mortality in pregnant women with COVID-19 in Maharashtra, India: Results from PregCovid registry. Indian J Med Res [Epub ahead of print] [cited 2021 Sep 17]. Available from: https://www.ijmr.org.in/preprintarticle.asp?id=326103
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