Pregnant women who catch COVID-19 may face more risky births

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-05-03 09:30

International

Catching COVID-19 when you’re pregnant is linked with a higher risk of pregnancy-related problems including giving birth early, according to a Canadian study of over 6,000 pregnancies between March 2020 and October 2021. The odds of winding up in hospital for COVID-19 was much higher for pregnant women than for similar-aged women in general - including 5.46 times higher relative risk for ICU admission. The risk of preterm birth was significantly higher among COVID-19-infected pregnancies - 11.05 per cent compared to 6.76 per cent among non-affected pregnancies - even in women with milder disease.

Media release

From:

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research JAMA, Web page

Journal/
conference: JAMA

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of British Columbia, Canada

Funder: This project was funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (grant 2021-HQ-000100), the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (grant 447634), and the BC Women’s Health Foundation (grant 89026 7537 RR0001). Role of the Funder/Sponsor: As part of the review and approval of the funding applications, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, and the BC Women’s Health Foundation approved the design, analysis, and conduct of the study. The funders had no role in the collection, management, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.