Almost 10% of women infected during pregnancy develop long COVID
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Key takeaways:
- Long COVID prevalence was 9.3% at a median of 10.3 months after first SARS-CoV-2 infection.
- The most common symptoms for women with long COVID were postexertional malaise, fatigue and gastrointestinal symptoms.
Nearly 10% of women infected with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy had post-acute sequelae 6 or more months later, according to results of the RECOVER-Pregnancy study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology.
“While it remains unclear whether this is higher than the general population, a significant number of individuals met a research definition for long COVID after having COVID during pregnancy,” Torri D. Metz, MD, MS, maternal-fetal medicine subspecialist at the University of Utah Health, told Healio. “We also found some of the same risk factors for long COVID as have been identified in other studies, such as underlying medical conditions, and obesity at the time of infection.”
Metz and colleagues conducted a multicenter cohort study, the RECOVER-Pregnancy study, with data from 1,502 U.S. women who were pregnant during their first SARS-CoV-2 infection from December 2021 to September 2023. Researchers evaluated long COVID risk factors, including sociodemographic and clinical characteristics before infection, and acute infection severity.
Primary outcome was long COVID at the first available study visit at least 6 months after index infection.
Long COVID prevalence was 9.3% at a median of 10.3 months after first SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Overall, 61.1% of women had a first SARS-CoV-2 infection on or after Dec. 1, 2021, 48.2% were infected during the third trimester of pregnancy, 51.4% were fully vaccinated at least 2 weeks before infection and 12.1% were enrolled within 30 days of infection.
The most common symptoms observed among women with long COVID were postexertional malaise (77.7%), fatigue (76.3%) and gastrointestinal symptoms (61.2%).
The following were associated with increased likelihood of long COVID:
- history of obesity before first infection (adjusted OR = 1.65; 95% CI, 1.12-2.43);
- depression or anxiety disorder before first infection (aOR = 2.64; 95% CI, 1.79-3.88);
- economic hardship (aOR = 1.57; 95% CI, 1.05-2.34); and
- treatment with oxygen during acute infection (aOR = 1.86; 95% CI, 1-3.44).
“We need a better understanding of the trajectory of long COVID, meaning that we need to understand if people get better over time,” Metz said. “We also are studying the effects of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in utero on neurodevelopmental outcomes in the children. It will also be interesting to see if there are differences in childhood outcomes when their parents are affected by long COVID.”
For more information:
Torri D. Metz, MD, MS, can be reached at torri.metz@hsc.utah.edu.