Coronavirus: severe symptoms no more likely in pregnant women, study says
- Paper says risk of severe disease in Wuhan’s pregnant population was 8 per cent, compared with 15.7 per cent for general Chinese population infected with virus
- Study based on 118 pregnant women admitted to hospital in Wuhan between December 8, and March 20
A paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week, said the risk of severe disease in the pregnant population in Wuhan was 8 per cent, compared with a 15.7 per cent risk for the general population of patients across China.
The study was based on medical records of 50 designated hospitals in Wuhan, where the outbreak was first reported. Scientists examined 118 pregnant women with Covid-19 from December 8, 2019 to March 20.
Of those, 109 had mild symptoms and nine had severe symptoms. The most common symptoms were fever and a cough. Six of the nine women showed severe symptoms after they gave birth.
By the end of the study, 109 of the women had been discharged, including all of those whose condition had been described as severe or critical.
Although none of the mothers died, nine babies failed to make it to full term. Four were aborted due to their mothers’ concerns about Covid 19, three were lost to miscarriages and two because of ectopic pregnancies, the study said.