According to a large US study published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas journal has found that people who are infected with the virus that causes coronavirus while pregnancy face a higher risk of having a very preterm birth as well as any preterm birth.
It has been found by the researchers at University of California (UC) San Francisco in the US that the risk of very preterm birth, which occurs at less than 32 weeks of gestation, was 60 per cent higher for people infected with COVID-19 at some point in their pregnancy. For those who also had hypertension, diabetes and/or obesity as well as COVID-19 were at the higher risk of preterm birth which rose 160 per cent, according to the study.
They said, the risk of any preterm birth or giving birth at less than 37 weeks was 40 per cent higher in those with the SARS-CoV-2 infection. The study lead and corresponding author Deborah Karasek, an assistant professor at UC San Francisco said, “Preterm birth is associated with many challenging outcomes for pregnant people and babies, and very preterm births carry the highest risk of infant complications.”
“Our results point to the importance of preventative measures to reduce COVID-19 infection among pregnant people to prevent preterm birth, including vaccination,” she said.
According to the researchers, pregnant people are considered to be a high-risk population for COVID-19 infection. Meanwhile, the study identifies the risks of COVID-19 by specific subtype of preterm birth, as well as by race, ethnicity, and insurance status.
“Given that the burden of COVID-19 is greater in these populations, as is the burden of pre-term birth, it really points to the need for an equity approach,” said Karasek.
“With the surge in infections and increase in the Delta variant, we must think about pregnant people, especially Black and Brown populations, as the groups that need to be prioritised, with supportive policies to reduce exposure and stress, and increase access to care,” she said.
The researchers also found that Latinx, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander people, as well as people with public insurance, had disproportionately higher COVID-19 rates during pregnancy. For example, about 47 per cent of pregnant people in the study overall were Latinx, they represented 72 per cent of the people with COVID-19 diagnoses.
All live births between July 2020 and January 2021 documented by California Vital Statistics birth certificates were analyzed by the researchers. They said, among all the 240,157 recorded births, nearly 9,000, or 3.7 per cent, indicated a COVID-19 diagnosis in pregnancy.
The preterm birth rate among birthing people with coronavirus diagnosis was 11.8 per cent compared with 8.7 per cent among those without the disease, according to the study. However, 40% of people in the study had public insurance at the time they gave birth, and 15.9 per cent had hypertension, diabetes, obesity, or a combination of these.
The researchers noted that people with comorbidities along with COVID-19 infection increased the risk of preterm birth. Individuals with hypertension, diabetes and/or obesity as well as a coronavirus diagnosis had a 160 per cent higher risk of very preterm birth, and a 100 per cent higher risk of preterm birth compared to those without comorbidities or the disease, they said.
