COVID-19 in Pregnancy and Risk for Preeclampsia
Maternal and Neonatal Morbidity and Mortality Among Pregnant Women With and Without COVID-19 Infection: The INTERCOVID Multinational Cohort Study
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to linger, more data are becoming available about what possible links there may be between COVID-19 infection in pregnancy and risks to mothers and their babies. In this study, research teams from around the world came together to study pregnant women with COVID-19 infection to ask what outcomes in mothers or their babies could be linked to COVID-19. Researchers found the risk for preeclampsia was 76% higher in a study group of 706 women who had COVID-19 during pregnancy (compared to a group of pregnant women without COVID-19 diagnosis). In a smaller analysis in their study of only pregnant women with COVID-19 infection but without any symptoms (i.e., asymptomatic), researchers still found a 63% increased risk for preeclampsia in the asymptomatic women. Researchers also found increased risks for severe infection and preterm birth in women with COVID-19 infection in pregnancy. Studies like these are important to understand how COVID-19 illness may affect pregnant women and can be taken into account when making decisions about social distancing, masking, and vaccination.
LINK: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33885740/
About Research Roundup
Each quarter, our team of researchers reviews the most current studies related to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and selects those studies they feel will be of greatest interest to our community to summarize.
Special thanks to our volunteer research team, who under the leadership of Dr. Elizabeth Sutton, make Research Roundup possible: Alisse Hauspurg, MD Felicia LeMoine, MD Jenny Sones, PhD, DVM, and Robin Trupp, PhD, RN.
Related Articles
Your story is needed to improve outcomes for moms like you. Add your voice to critical preeclampsia research to ensure that every story is heard.
Frequently asked questions about the Preeclampsia Registry, a patient-driven registry and biobank.
The Preeclampsia Foundation offers research funding, study recruitment, and other patient engagement services to researchers.
We provide research grant funding to advance progress towards detection, prevention, or treatment of preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome, and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
By Amanda Yang, MS Evidence-based healthcare comes from trustworthy research. Research is designed carefully, so that it can be repeated and tested by other scientists. Wrong information or bad data...
By Sig-Linda Jacobsen, MD Neurological symptoms are not uncommon in those who have preeclampsia. The most common symptom is severe headache. Some patients may also experience eclampsia, or seizu...
Summary by Jennifer Mitchell, MPH, PhD Preeclampsia is a serious condition that can happen during pregnancy and affects 2-8% of pregnancies around the world. It can cause health problems for both the...
By Julie Reynolds, MD and Laney Poye As the Foundation often shares, research shows that women with a history of preeclampsia are two to four times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease (CVD)...
Genetic predictors of blood pressure traits are associated with preeclampsia Although underlying causes of preeclampsia are not fully understood, there is evidence suggesting a strong genetic compone...