Nearly one in 10 people who get COVID while pregnant will go on to develop long COVID, a new study supported by the NIH Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative finds.
Previous research has shown that getting COVID during pregnancy is more likely to increase the risk of pregnancy complications such as preterm birth or stillbirth and can lead to higher rates of hospitalization or death. Yet a question remained as to how many people who had a COVID infection during pregnancy went on to develop long COVID.
Enrolling more than 1500 people nationwide who had been sick with COVID for the first time while pregnant, the researchers assessed self-reported long COVID symptoms at least six months post-infection. They found that 9.3% of people who had COVID during pregnancy went on to experience long-term symptoms. Further analyzing the data, the researchers discovered that several factors were linked with an increased chance of developing long COVID. Having anxiety or depression previous to their infection, being obese, and self-reported financial hardship played a role, although the study could not determine whether financial difficulties were a cause or a consequence of extended symptoms.
The study appears in Obstetrics & Gynecology.