Pregnant women in ICU for COVID-19 more deprived, less vaccinated

Pregnant or recently pregnant women who needed intensive care admission due to COVID-19 tend to live in poorer areas and are less likely to have been vaccinated, a recent study has found.

Researchers conducted a national cohort study of 75 pregnant and recently pregnant women (median age 31 years) who had contracted laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and were admitted to one of 24 intensive care units across Scotland. Hospital outcomes were assessed according to socioeconomic deprivation, as measured using the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SMID).

At the time of intensive care admission, 64 percent (n=48) of women were pregnant while 36 percent (n=27) were within 6 weeks of delivery. Nine women (12 percent) had documented comorbidities upon admission.

Majority (65 percent; n=49) of the participants lived in the most socioeconomically deprived areas in Scotland, with SMID scores of 1 or 2. Meanwhile, less than 5 percent had received any form of vaccination.

Patients were in critical care for a median of 4 days and in the hospital for a median of 10 days. Forty-four percent (n=33) needed advanced respiratory support, while 59 percent (n=44) received noninvasive support. Twenty-five percent of patients needed both types of breathing support. Cardiovascular support was given to 32 percent of patients.

One patient died, yielding an in-hospital mortality rate of 1.3 percent. Nine women (12 percent) were readmitted within 90 days for emergency, nonobstetric reasons.