Pregnant women diagnosed with the coronavirus are more likely to be hospitalized and put on ventilators than women with the coronavirus who are not pregnant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
The CDC released a report based on data from women diagnosed with the coronavirus across 50 states and the District of Columbia, from Jan. 22 to June 7. The study found that 31.5% of pregnant women with COVID-19 were hospitalized, compared to nearly 6% of nonpregnant women.
Pregnant women were admitted to the intensive care unit at a higher rate, 1.5%, compared to nonpregnant women at 0.9%. Similarly, 0.5% of pregnant women required mechanical ventilation compared with 0.3% of nonpregnant women.
The analysis is the largest so far that specifically studies effects on pregnant women. Researchers recorded data from 8,207 pregnant women and 83,205 nonpregnant women. The research does not conclude that pregnant women are more at risk of dying from complications due to COVID-19.
“We are collecting additional information, and we’re working to find out if COVID-19 is associated with pregnancy complications,” Jay C. Butler, CDC’s COVID-19 response incident manager, told reporters.
The CDC had previously reported that there is no data showing “that COVID-19 affects pregnant people differently than others,” but pregnant people “are at greater risk of getting sick from other respiratory viruses than people who are not pregnant.”
