Study finds COVID-19 raises risk for pregnant women who are overweight

SEATTLE — A new study from University of Washington Medicine found COVID-19 can severely affect pregnant women who are overweight or obese before becoming pregnant.

The findings were published Friday by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

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The study found that women who contract the virus have a higher incidence of severe pneumonia, which could lead to preterm birth.

The study’s senior author, Dr. Kristina Adams Waldorf, said one of the most important findings was that in almost all cases of severe COVID-19 disease, the women were either overweight or obese prior to pregnancy and had other conditions like asthma and high blood pressure.

"The combination of pregnancy, obesity, asthma and a COVID-19 pneumonia can synergistically increase the burden on her lungs,” Waldorf said.

The findings came from hospital evaluations of 46 pregnant women across 16 hospitals in Washington who contracted COVID-19 between Jan. 21 and April 17.

The women were screened for COVID-19 because they had experienced symptoms.

Researchers said they found that 1 in 7 pregnant women were hospitalized for respiratory concerns and 1 in 8 had a severe COVID-19 pneumonia.

“The timing of delivery for 25% of the women was influenced by the effects of COVID-19 on lung function and in one case, resulted in a preterm birth,” researchers said.

Researchers said 93.5% of all the women studied experienced some symptoms of COVID-19 and about 15% were hospitalized.

“These findings support categorizing pregnant patients as a higher risk group, particularly with obesity and chronic diseases like asthma and high blood pressure,” according to the report.

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