Pregnant women with coronavirus are more likely to need intensive care, study finds

Pregnant women in hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to show symptoms than non-pregnant women of similar age but may have an increased risk of admission to intensive care, a study published in The BMJ has found.

Researchers from the UK, the US, Spain, China, Switzerland, and the Netherlands found that pregnant women with COVID-19 were also more likely to have a preterm birth and that their newborns were more likely to be admitted to a neonatal unit. Other factors that increased the risk of severe COVID-19 in these women included being older, being overweight, and having pre-existing medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes.

The authors concluded that healthcare professionals needed to be aware that pregnant women with COVID-19 might need access to intensive care and specialist baby care facilities and suggested that mothers with pre-existing comorbidities should be considered to be a high risk group for COVID-19, along with those who were obese or older.

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Source: BMJ, 2 September 2020