Pregnant women infected with Covid have 7 times higher risk of dying: Study

Pregnant women are more likely to die if they catch Covid-19 as compared with pregnant individuals who are not infected, researchers, whose findings were published Monday in the journal BMJ Global Health, claimed.

The study on more than 13,000 pregnant women from 12 countries found that along with the increased risk of dying, Covid during pregnancy also made admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) or developing pneumonia more common, The Washington Post reported.

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The research synthesised data from 12 different studies. It found that three per cent of pregnant women with Covid-19 required intensive care. In seven studies, it concluded that four per cent of pregnant women received critical care and were five times more likely to receive critical care than the women in the studies who were negative for Covid-19, reported The Hill.

Not only do the pregnant women infected with coronavirus suffer from severe complications, but their babies are also two times more likely to be admitted to an ICU than those not infected with the virus. Because of the infection, these infants are at increased risk of being born preterm.

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Emily R. Smith, the study’s lead author, said vaccination rates for pregnant people are low probably because “the assumption is that if a person is pregnant, they are probably young and for the most part healthy,” reported The Washington Post.

Highlighting all these results, the study called for the need for global efforts to improve the access to safe preventives and therapeutics for pregnant women.

“These findings underscore the need for global efforts to prevent COVID-19 during pregnancy through targeted administration of vaccines and non-pharmaceutical interventions,” read the conclusion of the study.