An analysis published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) claims that women infected with the Wuhan coronavirus are at higher risk for stillbirths.
The analysis, which was released Friday, concluded that 1.26 percent of deliveries between March 2020 to September 2021 among women infected with COVID-19 resulted in stillbirths. This is compared to .65 percent of deliveries among non-infected women that resulted in stillbirth.
The study notes that 1.2 million deliveries occurred across 736 hospitals from March 2020 to September 2021. 21,653 of these delivery hospitalizations occurred with documented COVID-19. In this timeframe, a total of 8,154 stillbirths were documented.
During the pre-Delta variant timeframe, which was March 2020 to June 2021, 6,983 stillbirths were documented, involving .98 percent of deliveries with COVID-19 compared to 0.64 of deliveries without COVID-19. During the Delta variant period, July 2021 to September 2021, 1,171 stillbirths were documented, accounting for 2.7 percent of deliveries with COVID-19 compared with 0.63 percent of deliveries without COVID-19.
“The risk for stillbirth was significantly higher during the period of Delta predominance than during the pre-Delta period,” the analysis states.
“Among deliveries with COVID-19, chronic hypertension, multiple-gestation pregnancy, adverse cardiac event/outcome, placental abruption, sepsis, shock, acute respiratory distress syndrome, mechanical ventilation, and ICU admission were associated with a higher prevalence of stillbirth,” the analysis continues. “The associations for adverse cardiac event/outcome and ICU admission varied significantly between the periods before and during Delta predominance.”
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The analysis notes that while stillbirth is a rare outcome overall, COVID-19 diagnosis was associated with an increased risk of stillbirth in the United States, which grew during the period of the Delta variant.
“A previous study of pregnancies complicated by SARS-CoV-2 infection identified placental histopathologic abnormalities, suggesting that placental hypoperfusion and inflammation might occur with maternal COVID-19 infection,” the analysis notes.
The pre-pandemic stillbirth rate was .59 percent. However, .98 percent of COVID-19 affected deliveries pre-Delta and about 2.7 percent of deliveries with COVID-19 during the Delta variant period resulted in stillbirth.
“Data on the association between COVID-19 in pregnancy and stillbirth are emerging,” the analysis concludes. “Further investigation from prospective studies is warranted to confirm these findings, identify the biologic mechanism for the observed increased risk for stillbirth with maternal COVID-19, and assess differences in risks relative to the timing and severity of infection and the contribution of maternal risk factors. In addition, further investigation of vaccine effectiveness during pregnancy, including prevention of stillbirth, is warranted.”
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