COVID severity doesn't depend on trimester of pregnancy, research showsThe severity of COVID-19 does not change based on pregnancy trimester, finds research presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM's) virtual annual meeting.According to an abstract published Jan 1 in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology (AJOG), the research team studied the outcomes of 1,092 pregnant COVID-19 patients who delivered at a Dallas hospital from Mar 18, 2020, to May 31, 2021.Among them, 66 (6%) women were diagnosed in their first trimester, while 309 (28%) tested positive in their second trimester, and 716 (66%) were diagnosed in their third trimester.
The groups had similar demographic characteristics; 87% were Hispanic.Of patients hospitalized within 14 days of their COVID-19 diagnosis, 2 (15%) in their first trimester, 16 (47%) in their second trimester, and 24 (5%) in their third trimester were admitted for treatment of COVID-19.Across trimesters, 90.9% of women had no or mild COVID-19 symptoms, and 10.1% who were initially asymptomatic developed moderate, severe, or critical symptoms.
Of patients who were initially asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, 2 of 62 (3.2%) first-, 15/295 (5.1%) second-, and 36/689 (5.2%) third-trimester patients later developed moderate, severe, or critical illness."Regardless of what trimester they are in, pregnant people are at risk of developing severe COVID illness," lead author Rachel Schell, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said in an SMFM news release.The authors noted that previous studies have shown that pregnant women infected with COVID-19 are at elevated risk for hospitalization, ventilation, and death relative to their