COVID-19 Scan for Jun 08, 2022

COVID-19 quintupled in-hospital deaths in pregnant women in AfricaCOVID-19 infection and pregnancy independently raised the risk of intensive care unit (ICU) admission, the need for supplemental oxygen, and death among hospitalized women in sub-Saharan Africa, finds a study published today in Clinical Infectious Diseases.A team led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh studied the outcomes of 1,315 hospitalized women of childbearing age in six sub-Saharan African countries (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda) from Mar 1, 2020, to Mar 31, 2021.

The cohort included 510 pregnant COVID-19 patients, 403 infected nonpregnant women, and 402 noninfected pregnant women.Among COVID-19 patients, pregnancy was tied to increased risk of ICU admission (adjusted risk ratio [aRR], 2.38; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.42 to 4.01), oxygen supplementation (aRR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.44 to 2.42), and in-hospital death (adjusted subhazard ratio [aSHR], 2.00; 95% CI, 1.08 to 3.70).In pregnant patients, COVID-19 infection raised the risk of ICU admission (aRR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.20 to 3.35), the need for supplemental oxygen (aRR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.17 to 2.11), and death (aSHR, 5.03; 95% CI, 1.79 to 14.13).HIV or a history of tuberculosis doubled the risk of ICU admission among infected pregnant and non-pregnant women."Our findings indicate that hospitalized pregnant women with COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa have two  to five times greater risk of needing intensive care and dying than uninfected, hospitalized pregnant women," lead author Jean Nachega, MD, PhD, MPH, of Pitt Public Health and Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa, said in a University of Pittsburgh news release.In a