Pregnancy complications are common during pandemic, researchers say

According to an analysis of 40 studies in 17 countries published Wednesday in the journal Lancet Global Health, more pregnant women died, suffered complications or gave birth to stillbirths during the pandemic than in previous years.

Pregnant women are at increased risk of serious illness and death if they are infected with the coronavirus. But researchers in Turkey and the UK wanted to assess the collateral damage of the pandemic on pregnancy and childbirth, and therefore excluded from their analysis studies that focused only on infected pregnant women.

Examining data on more than six million pregnancies, investigators found evidence that disruptions in health care systems and the fear of female patients of being infected in clinics may have led to preventable deaths of mothers and babies. babies, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Data from a dozen studies showed that the chances of a stillbirth increased by 28%. And the risk of death of pregnant women or during childbirth has increased by more than a third in two countries: Mexico and India. A subset of studies assessing mental health have shown that postpartum depression and anxiety were also on the rise during the pandemic.

Nearly six times as many women have had to undergo surgery for ectopic pregnancies – in which a fertilized egg grows outside the uterus – during the pandemic than before. Ectopic pregnancies can be treated with medication if caught early, so the results suggest surgeries may have resulted from delays in care.

The analysis did not find any differences in other conditions associated with pregnancy, such as gestational diabetes or high blood pressure, or in rates of cesarean sections or induced labor.

Premature birth rates also did not change significantly during the pandemic in low- and middle-income countries. But in high-income countries, preterm births have fallen by nearly 10 percent.

The decline may be the result of changes in health care delivery and in the behavior of pregnant women during the pandemic, the researchers said, indicating that the pandemic has exacerbated disparities between low and high income countries.