Pregnant people infected with Covid appear to be more likely to experience serious complications or die during pregnancy than those who aren’t infected with the coronavirus, according to new peer reviewed research published in JAMA, which researchers said underscores the need for people to get vaccinated.
Unvaccinated pregnant people with moderate to severe Covid-19 symptoms were more likely to need a Cesarean section, deliver preterm, experience postpartum hemorrhage or die around the time of birth than those without the infection or with no or mild symptoms, according to the study of more than 13,000 pregnant people from 17 U.S. hospitals.
They were also more likely to experience severe illness from an infection besides Covid, develop high blood pressure, lose the pregnancy and have the infant die as a newborn.
The increased risk was linked to the severity of Covid-19 symptoms—which pregnant people are also more likely to experience—the researchers found, and mild or asymptomatic infections were not with increased pregnancy risks.