Research has shown that pregnant women who are admitted to the hospital show much less symptoms of Covid-19 than their peers who are not pregnant. It is mainly a fever. In addition, a pregnant woman is more likely to be admitted to intensive care units.
Researchers set to work with the data of 11,432 pregnant women who had been admitted to a hospital in the United Kingdom during the corona crisis. They then compared these data with those of women of about the same age who were not pregnant.
The research, which is published in the British Medical Journal, had two striking results. Pregnant women are less likely to show symptoms of one coronabesmetting, and they need more intensive care treatment in an intensive care unit.
Weaker immune system
The latter makes sense, according to the research. One explanation for this is the reaction of pregnant women to other viruses. Their pregnancy is their immune system namely not quite what it should be, and so they are more susceptible to the flu and the new corona virus, for example.
According to the researchers, another explanation lies in the lungs and heart (the ‘field of the new corona virus) of the pregnant woman. These are already under pressure due to the pregnancy, and so the path for the virus is much easier to walk than with women who are not pregnant.
Lower risk than Sars and Mers
According to the study, 4 in 100 pregnant women were admitted to intensive care units. “The overall risk is not that great, but compared to women of the same age who are not pregnant, pregnant women appear to be admitted to intensive care a little more,” said Shakila Thangaratinam, professor of maternal and perinatal health at the University of Amsterdam. Birmingham.
The study also confirms that the death rate in pregnant women with Covid-19 is much lower than in women infected with the Sars or Mers virus. For this, the scientists mainly looked at data from American women, says Marian Knight, professor of maternal and child health at the University of Oxford. She played an advisory role in the investigation.
Need further investigation
In terms of symptoms, pregnant women who are infected with the new corona virus especially have less fever, the study shows. Women of the same age who are not pregnant and are hospitalized for Covid-19, cough more, develop a fever and have more problems with their breathing.
According to the scientists, further research is very important. It is still unclear how mothers can infect their unborn children, and what the other risks are of a corona infection on the pregnancy.
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