HOUSTON — Pregnant women are actually less likely to die of COVID-19 than women who aren’t pregnant, according to a UTHealth study that was just published.
The study looked at 10,000 women who were hospitalized with COVID-19 and viral pneumonia. Beth Pineles, MD, Ph.D., a maternal-fetal medicine fellow with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth and first author of the study, says 1,062 of the patients were pregnant.
“Actually when we went into it, we said this is a great data set. It’s very robust. We can replicate the findings we’ve found in all these smaller studies. We were extremely surprised to find that our results were completely the opposite of what has been reported before,” Pineles said.
Their research found pregnant women hospitalized with COVID-19 have less than a 1% chance of dying. Even more unexpected, that risk is lower than women who are not pregnant.
Pineles said there are a few possible reasons. Researchers found a bias in how COVID-19 hospitalizations are reported to public health departments when it comes to pregnant women. Doctors may also offer better care for those patients as a result.
“What we’re beginning to suspect after looking through the data so much is, essentially, that there’s a bias in what these human beings are reporting. If they see a pregnant woman who is very, very sick. Doctors caring for her are much more moved by that, and more likely to report that than if it’s a non-pregnant woman whose kids they don’t see,” she said.
She said the pregnant women also tended to be younger and healthier. They’re also investigating whether there is something about pregnant women’s immune systems that make COVID-19 less deadly.
She says everyone, including pregnant women, are better off not getting the virus, so it is still important to get vaccinated. However, doctors hope this new information gives moms-to-be a more realistic view of their risks and some peace of mind.