Pregnant women with Covid are seven times more likely to die and face a substantially higher risk of suffering from serious complications, a large-scale global analysis has found.
Expectant mothers infected by Covid-19 are more than three times more likely to be admitted to intensive care and 15 times more likely to require a ventilator to help them breathe.
They face a 23 times higher risk of developing pneumonia and are five times more likely to suffer from blood clots.
The study also suggests having Covid during pregnancy also increases the risk that the baby will need to be admitted to intensive care.
Emily Smith, assistant professor of global health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and lead author of the study, said: “The implications here are that it’s really important that if you are pregnant, or you are thinking about becoming pregnant, to get vaccinated.
“This can really reduce the risk of having some of these bad outcomes for mum or for baby.”
The analysis was based on 12 studies involving more than 13,000 pregnant women in Ghana, China-Hong Kong, Italy, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Turkey, Uganda and the US.
“Our new study is one of the biggest to look globally at people who are pregnant and compare them between people who had Covid and didn’t have Covid in pregnancy,” Ms Smith said.
“One of the strengths of this particular study is that we had data from all over the world.”
The research also included data from women in all three trimesters, proving that having Covid “at any time in pregnancy did bring this extra risk on to the mum and the baby”.
“We found that women who had Covid in pregnancy were at greater risk of ending up in the ICU or even dying, or having some pregnancy-related problems, like pre-eclampsia, as compared to their peers, who were pregnant at the same time but didn’t get Covid.
“So we also found out that mums who had Covid in pregnancy, their babies were more likely to be born too soon or preterm and the babies had an increased risk of ending up in the [neonatal] ICU.”
Babies born to women who were infected with Covid were almost twice as likely to be admitted to an NICU after birth. They were also at higher risk of being born prematurely.
Pre-term babies are at high risk of having lifelong health problems including delays in early childhood cognitive development, Ms Smith said.
Despite the serious health risks, more than 80 countries still do not recommend that all pregnant and lactating women get the Covid vaccine, said the assistant professor.
While it was hard to put together the evidence in the past, she said this meta-analysis provided public health officials and the public with clear, consistent and compelling findings.
Studies have repeatedly found Covid vaccines are safe in pregnancy.
A study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal in August last year also found lower rates of health events after vaccination than similarly aged, non-pregnant vaccinated people.
The study was one of the first to look at vaccine side effects in a group of vaccinated pregnant women, as well as unvaccinated pregnant women and a group of vaccinated non-pregnant people to enable comparisons between the three.
In total, 2.1 per cent of unvaccinated pregnant women and 1.5 per cent of vaccinated pregnant women experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth within seven days after a dose one of any mRNA vaccine.
An earlier study from Israel found that pregnant women who were vaccinated against Covid-19 could pass on protection to their babies.
Antibodies were detected in all 20 women who were administered both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine during their third trimester of pregnancy and, through placental transfer, in their newborn babies, the research carried out in February 2021 indicated.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
UAE SQUAD FOR ASIAN JIU-JITSU CHAMPIONSHIP
Men’s squad: Faisal Al Ketbi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Kathiri, Thiab Al Nuaimi, Khaled Al Shehhi, Mohamed Ali Al Suwaidi, Farraj Khaled Al Awlaqi, Muhammad Al Ameri, Mahdi Al Awlaqi, Saeed Al Qubaisi, Abdullah Al Qubaisi and Hazaa Farhan
Women's squad: Hamda Al Shekheili, Shouq Al Dhanhani, Balqis Abdullah, Sharifa Al Namani, Asma Al Hosani, Maitha Sultan, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Maha Al Hanaei, Shamma Al Kalbani, Haya Al Jahuri, Mahra Mahfouz, Marwa Al Hosani, Tasneem Al Jahoori and Maryam Al Amri
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Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
House-hunting
Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Westminster, London
- Camden, London
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Islington, London
- Kensington and Chelsea, London
- Highlands, Scotland
- Argyll and Bute, Scotland
- Fife, Scotland
- Tower Hamlets, London
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
