Preterm delivery, hypertensive disorders most common complication of covid-19 in pregnancy: ICMR study

NEW DELHI: Preterm delivery and hypertensive disorders were found to be the most common complications of covid-19 in pregnancy, as per a study by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The study, published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, collected data of 4,203 pregnant women during the first wave of the pandemic, through March 2020 to January 2021, and analysed it.

The PregCovid registry was established to document clinical presentations, pregnancy outcomes and mortality of pregnant and post-partum women with covid-19. The registry prospectively collected information in near-real time on pregnant and post-partum women with laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of covid-19 from 19 medical colleges across Maharashtra.

"There were 3,213 live births, 77 miscarriages and 834 undelivered pregnancies. The proportion of pregnancy/foetal loss including stillbirths was 6%. 534 women (13%) were symptomatic, of which 382 (72%) had mild, 112 (21%) had moderate, and 40 (7.5%) had severe disease. The most common complication was preterm delivery (528, 16.3%) and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (328, 10.1%),” the study said.

A total of 158 (3.8%) pregnant and post-partum women required intensive care, of which 152 (96%) were due to covid-19 related complications. The overall case fatality rate (CFR) in pregnant and post-partum women with covid-19 was 0.8%. Higher CFR was observed in Pune (1.1%), Marathwada (1.1%) regions as compared to Vidarbha (0.8%), Mumbai Metropolitan (0.7%), and Khandesh (0.6%) regions.

"Co-morbidities of anaemia, tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus were associated with maternal deaths. The study demonstrates the adverse outcomes including severe covid-19 disease, pregnancy loss and maternal death in women with covid-19 in Maharashtra,” the study concluded.