SALT LAKE CITY – Pregnant women who have developed severe symptoms of COVID-19 are at higher risk of pregnancy complications and even death compared to women who have had no symptoms, or mild or moderate symptoms, according to a new study conducted by a researcher at Utah University.
The study was released Friday, in time to be presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Dr. Torri Metz, associate professor and subspecialist in maternal and fetal medicine at the University of Utah Health, was the lead author of the study.
The study focused on a group of more than 1,200 pregnant women in 33 hospitals in 14 states, with data collected from March 1 to July 31, 2020. Altogether, almost half were asymptomatic, while 27% reported mild symptoms and 14% experienced moderate symptoms. Another 8% experienced severe symptoms and 4% experienced critical symptoms.
The mortality rate of the COVID-19 study in women was 0.3%, which would be equivalent to 3 deaths per 1,000 or 300 per 100,000. The latest known rate of 17.4 deaths per 100,000 in pregnant women without COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This is much greater than would be expected at the beginning of the study and is certainly worrying,” said Metz. “In pregnancy, we are seeing the same thing that we see in non-pregnant people, as there is an increase in mortality rates during this period.”
Those who tended to experience worse symptoms were older, had a higher body mass index and were more likely to have underlying health problems like asthma, diabetes or high blood pressure, according to the study.
Women who were more likely to experience severe coronavirus results were more likely to die or have serious complications, such as premature birth, postpartum hemorrhage or heavy bleeding after childbirth, hypertension during pregnancy or cesarean section.
Metz said the study can be seen as reassuring for women who have mild or moderate symptoms of COVID-19, which is the majority of those who have any symptoms. That said, there is no way to know someone’s outcome in advance.
“When people get COVID-19, we don’t know how serious it will be and we have no way of preventing it from becoming serious,” she said. “So I think it is still very important for pregnant patients to minimize exposure and wear a mask all the time.”
This story will be updated.
Carter Williams