Most Of The Pregnant Covid Positive Patients Are Asymptomatic, Reveals Study

A research study noted that 72 percent of pregnant women who tested positive for COVID-19 were asymptomatic. This means that most of the pregnant COVID positive patients didn't show any symptoms of the disease.

The Research Study

The Mount Sinai researchers conducted a respective cross-sectional study of universal screenings for SARS-Cov2 between March and April. The study was conducted in Elmhurst hospital, Queens, New York. It showed that more than one-third of 130 women in the labour and delivery unit tested positive for COVID-19. Of those women, more than 72 percent didn't show any symptoms.

However, this percentage is much higher than what was recorded in other hospitals of New York City during the pandemic surge. The researchers stated that it must be due to the 'social inequities in the surrounding population'.

Results and Objectives

This test also concluded that there was an early onset of asymptomatic spread when the community testing was limited to only symptomatic individuals.

Sheela Maru from Icahn School of Medicine stated, "This study is instructive for other labor and delivery units and hospitals across the world as we continue to refine pandemic preparedness.

"In future epidemics, it may be prudent to look at labor and delivery screening numbers much earlier on, as pregnant women continue to seek essential care despite social distancing measures and also represent the general young and healthy community population." she further added.

Other important studies

Earlier, there was another important study published in the journal 'JAMA Network Open'. It noted that 95% of women who tested positive for COVID-19 during pregnancy had no adverse outcomes.

However, there was another study which showed that pregnant women face increased risks from COVID-19. Although most pregnant women infected have not become severely ill. Nonetheless, the new caution is based on a large study that looked at tens of thousands of symptomatic pregnant women.

“We are now saying pregnant women are at increased risk for severe illness. Previously we said they ‘might be' at increased risk for severe illness,” noted Sascha Ellington, a health scientist with the C.D.C., and one of the authors of the new study.

She added that they were significantly more likely to require intensive care. They also needed to be connected to a specialised heart-lung bypass machine and to require mechanical ventilation. This was in comparison to the symptomatic non-pregnant women of the same age. Most importantly, the pregnant women faced a 70 percent increased risk of death, when compared to symptomatic non-pregnant women.

Sugandha Bora is an intern with SheThePeople.