A global study has shown that pregnant women are more at risk of experiencing severe COVID-19 symptoms including the chances of being admitted to intensive care and need ventilation. The study also shows pre-existing health issues such as obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure that increase the risk of coronavirus and its symptoms in pregnant women.
These findings came from the research by the University of Birmingham, UK, and published in BMJ are based on the ongoing ‘living systematic review’ research started in April 2020. These results came based on 192 international studies conducted on the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women and their babies.
Furthermore, the research also showed that pregnant women are more likely to have an asymptomatic infection with fever (40%) and cough (41%) being the most common symptoms.
Dr. John Allotey of the University of Birmingham-based WHO collaboration Centre for Global Women’s Health who is also a lead researcher said that pregnant women should be considered a group at high risk of COVID-19 infection. However, he also assured that the risk of spreading that infection to the babies is very low. Also, the death rate in pregnant women due to COVID-19 was found to be lower at 0.02 percent.
