United States: Almost 10 percent of the women who suffers from COVID-19 while pregnancy have those symptoms that lasts longer according to the new study, however the health experts are not noticing these long-lasting symptoms said Dr. Torri Metz, a doctor at the University of Utah Health.
Doctors May Be Unaware of Long COVID
“I think many doctors who care for pregnant women might not realize how common Long COVID is,” Dr. Metz said. “But we need to remember that these women could have symptoms for a long time after getting COVID-19.” Dr. Metz wants to make sure doctors don’t forget that these long-term symptoms could be from their COVID-19 infection.
And the studies that have been done earlier show that the pregnant women possess unique risk of COVID for example it increases the chances of preterm birth or stillbirth and is more likely to lead to hospitalizations or death of the mother. But the risk for long COVID had not been researched.
Study Details
As the reports concluded from U.S News, Metz’ team which enrolled more than 1,500 women who got COVID for the very first time during pregnancy and the women self-reported on symptoms at least six months after their initial infection.
Overall the researchers found that almost 9 to 10 percent of the women who got COVID during the pregnancy receive or experience the long term symptoms and most often the fatigue, gastrointestinal issues and they easily feel drained and tired just by doing the daily activities.
Importance of the Study
“This is a critical study as pregnancy and the postpartum period are one of the most vulnerable times in an individual’s life,” said Dr. David Goff, division director for cardiovascular sciences at the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The NIH funded the study.
For the better understanding how the individuals characteristics interact with the SARS-COV-2 infection during the pregnancy and lead to an increased risk of long COVID.
Ensuring Accurate Data
To make sure that the long COVID symptoms that women reported weren’t the symptoms of the pregnancy itself and the researchers did a separate analysis that actually includes only the people who includes reported symptoms more than 12 weeks after giving the birth.
As mentioned in U.S news the previous studies of Long COVID in the general population have yielded a range of rates from the 10 percent to more than almost 20 percent putting women at the lower end of the spectrum.