One in 10 pregnant women who caught COVID will get long COVID: study

By Imogen Howse via SWNS

One in 10 women who caught the coronavirus while pregnant will develop long Covid, according to a new study.

The risk was higher among those who were obese or suffered from depression or anxiety during pregnancy.

People who had a more severe coronavirus infection and required oxygen were also more likely to develop long Covid.

Researchers followed 1,503 participants from across the United States who contracted Covid while they were pregnant to see whether or not they developed long Covid, and, if they did, to establish which factors contributed to this.

Just over half (51 percent) of those in the cohort were fully vaccinated before contracting Covid.

Results, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, showed that 9.3 percent of pregnant people developed long Covid six months or more after they were first infected.

The most common symptoms people reported included dizziness, fatigue, and feeling worn out after even minor physical or mental activity, also known as malaise.

The team’s analysis revealed that being obese, struggling with anxiety or depression, and suffering from a severe infection were all factors which increased a person’s risk of developing long Covid.

However, the stage of pregnancy in which the person contracted Covid – e.g. the first, second, or third trimester – had no bearing on whether they eventually got long Covid.

Lead author Dr. Torri Metz, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Utah, said: “The key takeaway for clinicians who are taking care of pregnant patients is that nearly 1 in 10 people who have Covid during pregnancy still have persistent symptoms six months later.”

Researchers also compared their findings to results from a larger cohort which included non-pregnant people.

Interestingly, the rate of long Covid appeared to be lower in pregnant people than in non-pregnant people.

“But that could be due to a number of reasons that are worth investigating in the future,”Dr Metz said.

She added that the next step for the research team, which is already in progress, is to investigate the outcomes of the babies whose mothers developed long Covid.