Pregnant women with COVID-19 face increased chances for stillbirths compared with uninfected women, and that risk spiked to four times higher after the delta variant emerged, new government data show.
FILE - A pregnant and intubated COVID-19 patient sits in the Surgical Intensive care unit at St. Luke's Boise Medical Center in Boise, Idaho on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. Pregnant women with COVID face increased chances for stillbirths and that risk spikes to four times higher with the delta variant compared with uninfected women, new CDC data show.
Among those with COVID-19, stillbirths were more common in people with chronic high blood pressure and other complications, including those in intensive care or on breathing machines. Pregnant people with COVID-19 are more likely than others to develop severe, even fatal, illness and they face increased risks for preterm birth and other complications. Previous studies on stillbirths and COVID-19 had mixed findings, but the report bolsters concerns among obstetricians and anecdotal data.
Some experts have speculated that the virus may cause inflammation in the placenta or other abnormalities that could harm the fetus.Dr. Joseph Biggio, a specialist in high-risk pregnancies at Ochsner Health in New Orleans, said the study doesn't prove that COVID-19 caused stillbirths. He said it’s possible some women were so critically ill that physicians trying to keep them alive “couldn’t intervene on behalf of a fetus that they knew was in trouble.
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