The study found that 35 percent of pregnant women who died from causes associated with COVID-19 were not admitted to intensive care.
One in three pregnant women with COVID-19 who had to access an intensive care unit did not do so in the first two years of the pandemic, according to a study carried out by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
The study was conducted by the Latin American Center for Perinatology, Women’s Health and Reproductive Health (CLAP) of PAHO and published by the Lancet Regional Health-Americas.
This is the largest study to date worldwide, with a database of 447 pregnant women from Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and the Dominican Republic, the PAHO said in a statement.
The research emphasizes “the importance of joining forces to raise awareness regarding the early detection of the severity of COVID-19 in the pregnant population in the region and to provide evidence-based advice on public policies to protect them,” said CLAP director Suzanne Serruya.
Specified study
The study found that 35 percent of pregnant women who died from COVID-19-related causes were not admitted to intensive care. The average maternal age was 31 years and regarding half of those who died were obese.
86.4 percent of the women studied were infected before delivery, and most cases (60.3 percent) were detected in the third trimester of pregnancy.
The report found that at first consultation and admission, the most common symptoms were dyspnea (73 percent), fever (69 percent), and cough (59 percent).
Organ dysfunction (organ failure) was also reported in 90.4 percent of women during admission, and 64.8 percent were admitted to critical care where they remained for an average of eight days.
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The study established that in most cases, death occurred during the puerperium, that is, during the six weeks following delivery, with an average of seven days between delivery and death.
Premature birth was the most frequent perinatal complication (76.9 percent) and 59.9 percent of children had low birth weight.
“While recent data suggest a decline in maternal deaths from COVID-19 in the region, women are still dying from this cause and vaccination is the main tool to reduce serious complications and deaths from this disease,” said Bremen de Mucio, PAHO regional advisor on maternal health and one of the study’s lead authors.
Mercedes Colomar, another person in charge of the work, said: “Unfortunately, we see inequity in the distribution of vaccines at a global level and pregnant women continue to have vaccination rates that are even lower than those of the general population.”
PAHO said it has been monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women since the beginning of the pandemic.
According to data from 24 countries in the region in 2021, compared to those reported in 2020, there was an increase in both the number of cases and deaths among pregnant women testing positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The Pan-American organization noted that several factors may explain these increases, such as the weaknesses and strengths of surveillance systems and their strategies, immunization and availability of vaccines for pregnant women, saturation of services and barriers to access to special care.
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2024-07-22 05:19:53
