FRIDAY, Sept. 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) — More than half of hospitalized pregnant women with COVID-19 are asymptomatic at admission, while pregnant women hospitalized for COVID-19-related illness have a higher prevalence of prepregnancy obesity and gestational diabetes, according to two studies published in the Sept. 16 early-release issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Miranda J. Delahoy, Ph.D., from the CDC COVID-NET Team, and colleagues collected data on hospitalized pregnant women with laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The researchers found that 26.5 percent of the 2,255 women aged 15 to 49 years with COVID-19 with information about pregnancy status were pregnant. Overall, 54.5 percent of these 598 hospitalized pregnant women with COVID-19 were asymptomatic at admission. Of the 272 women who were symptomatic at admission, 16.2 and 8.5 percent were admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) and required invasive mechanical ventilation, respectively.
Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos, M.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues identified 105 hospitalized pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection during March 1 to May 30, 2020: 59 and 41 percent were hospitalized for obstetric reasons and for COVID-19 illness without obstetric reasons, respectively. The researchers found that 81 percent of those admitted for obstetric reasons were asymptomatic. Of those hospitalized for COVID-19, 30 and 14 percent required ICU admission and mechanical ventilation, respectively, and one patient died from COVID-19. Pregnant women hospitalized for COVID-19 were more likely to have prepregnancy obesity (44 versus 31 percent) and gestational diabetes (26 versus 8 percent).
“This report highlights the importance of antenatal counseling in pregnant women, especially those with prepregnancy obesity and gestational diabetes,” Panagiotakopoulos and colleagues write.
Abstract/Full Text – Panagiotakopoulos
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