Washington study finds pregnant patients with COVID-19 have a higher risk of death, hospitalization By Sandi Doughton, The Seattle Times
Published: January 28, 2021, 10:30am
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For the first several months of the pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assured pregnant patients they were in no greater danger from the novel coronavirus than anyone else.
It wasn’t until the agency analyzed national data last summer that they discovered pregnant people with COVID-19 appeared to be at higher risk for serious illness and hospitalization.
Now, a new study from Washington state confirms those results and also finds a much higher risk of death than previously reported, suggesting the peril to pregnant patients continues to be underestimated across the country.
Pregnant Mothers at High Death Risk Due to COVID by Colleen Fleiss on January 28, 2021 at 8:12 PM
In pregnant women, mortality rate due to COVID-19 was 13 times higher than in similarly aged individuals, suggested a new study. We are gravely concerned that Covid-19-associated maternal deaths have been massively undercounted nationally and that the impact on pregnant patients, particularly with underlying conditions is greater than currently underappreciated, said researcher Kristina Adams Waldorf from the University of Washington in the US.
The team also found that pregnant women with Covid-19 had a 3.5 times higher Covid-19 associated hospitalization rate than the similarly aged general population in Washington state.
Expecting mothers at high risk of death due to Covid: Study daijiworld.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from daijiworld.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
UW study: Pregnant women at higher risk for COVID-19 hospitalization, death by Callie Craighead, SeattlePI
A new University of Washington study found that pregnant patients have a shockingly high risk of COVID-19 hospitalizations and death, raising more questions about whether pregnant patients should be prioritized for the vaccine.
The study, which followed 240 pregnant women in Washington, found that they had a 3.5 times higher rate of hospitalization from COVID-19 and that the mortality rate was 13 times higher than those in the same age group.
Of the 240 patients studied, 24 were hospitalized with the virus and three died.
Those numbers are leading researchers to believe that deaths of pregnant women from COVID-19 have been underreported.
Specifically the study found:
Pregnant women with COVID-19 had 3.5 times higher COVID-19 associated hospitalization rate than the similarly aged general population in Washington state.
COVID-19 mortality rates were 13 times higher in pregnant mothers than in similarly aged individuals. This said, most of the pregnant patients with COVID-19 had asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 disease and healthy pregnancies.
The three women who died of COVID-19 in Washington state were from minority ethnic groups and most of them had other conditions such as obesity and hypertension.
Of the 240 pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infections detected through June, three died from COVID-19, while 24 patients were hospitalized for COVID-19. Dr. Kristina Adams Waldorf, an obstetrician-gynecologist with the University of Washington School of Medicine, and senior author of the study, noted that this shows a severe underreporting of mortality related to COVID among mothers in the United States.