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WEDNESDAY, Sept. 16, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
COVID-19<\/a> may hit pregnant<\/a> women especially hard, U.S. health officials warned in two reports.<\/p>\n In one report, scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> urge pregnant<\/a> women and health care providers to be aware of the risks for severe COVID-19<\/a>, which include serious birth outcomes.<\/p>\n Diagnosing COVID-19<\/a> during childbirth<\/a> hospitalizations is important to begin measures to protect women, newborns and others, the researchers said.<\/p>\n For this report, CDC researchers looked at nearly 600 pregnant women with COVID-19<\/a> who were hospitalized in 13 states between March and August.<\/p>\n Of those, 54.5% had no symptoms when they entered the hospital. But 16% ended up in the intensive care unit, and 8.5% were placed on ventilators.<\/p>\n Also, 2% of women with and without COVID-19<\/a> symptoms lost the pregnancy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Among 445 pregnancies<\/a>, 87% were term births and 13% were preterm. Twenty-three percent of symptomatic women delivered early as did 8% of asymptomatic women.<\/p>\n Two newborns died during hospitalization. Both were born to symptomatic women who needed invasive mechanical ventilation.<\/p>\n In a second report, CDC researchers encouraged pregnant women to wear face masks, wash their hands often and maintain social distance to prevent COVID-19<\/a>. They said these precautions are especially important for women who are obese<\/a> or develop gestational diabetes<\/a>.<\/p>\n The researchers found that COVID-19 infections were higher among hospitalized women who were obese<\/a> before pregnancy<\/a> and who developed gestational diabetes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Among these women who were hospitalized, 30% were admitted to the intensive care unit, 14% had to be placed on ventilators, and one died from COVID-19.<\/p>\n Preterm delivery was nearly 70% higher than usual among these women and the rate of stillbirth<\/a> was more than four times higher among women with COVID-19, the analysis said. It was based on data from 105 women at eight health care centers between March and May.<\/p>\n The reports were published Sept. 16 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report<\/i>.<\/p>\n — Steven Reinberg<\/p>\n ![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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