Long Covid has been a preoccupation for researchers since the coronavirus began spreading more than four years ago. The syndrome is blamed for a range of persistent symptoms that can vary across patient groups, and the virus could pose a particular threat to pregnant women, an already vulnerable population.
Still, medical experts say the study is a stark reminder of the impact pregnancy has on the immune system and how that can affect the body, and it highlights the need for more research. The study was funded as part of the National Institutes of Health’s COVID Research to Accelerate Recovery initiative, known as RECOVER.
“We were initially surprised by the prevalence of long Covid in this population,” said Tori Metz, one of the study’s lead authors and a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at the University of Utah Health. “It really made us realize that we need to keep this in mind when we’re seeing patients.”
The researchers analyzed individuals who had been infected with the coronavirus during pregnancy as part of a study of 1,500 people. Half of the participants, mostly in their 30s, had been fully vaccinated at the time of enrollment. The researchers assessed study participants for long-COVID symptoms 10 months after their first infection.
The most commonly reported symptoms included fatigue, tiredness and gastrointestinal problems, some of which are also hallmarks of pregnancy.
The researchers wanted to be sure that the symptoms reported were COVID-related and not due to pregnancy or the postpartum period. They found that the effects were persistent and still evident when assessed 10 months after the initial infection. This suggested to the researchers that symptoms such as fatigue and pain in the study participants were not due to pregnancy, but rather characteristic of long-term COVID-19.
“This is another opportunity to really draw attention to the fact that it’s important for patients to have continuity of care after pregnancy. [if they have] “It’s a chronic condition that requires specialized care and a handoff to someone who can really manage it,” Metz says.
Cynthia Abraham, an associate professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, who was not involved in the study, said the research highlights the threat of respiratory illness during pregnancy and the potential for worsening outcomes.
“Much of the data we have is from non-pregnant populations, so this paper focuses on an important population that has been understudied,” said Abraham, who is also a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
This year, more federal funding has been allocated to study the effects of Long Covid. Biden Administration It has announced it will invest an additional $515 million into research into the disease over the next four years. Time should be spent researching pregnancy and COVID-19. To date, RECOVER has recruited more than 30,000 people, including children and pregnant women.
Monica Longo, an obstetrician-gynecologist and maternal-fetal medicine expert on the NIH RECOVER team, emphasized the importance of understanding how the disease affects pregnancy and what effects it may have on the fetus.
“These nine months are critical for fetal development, and changes in the environment can lead to significant changes in fetal development,” Longo said, “so it’s essential to examine the effects of exposure to COVID-19 on the fetus.”
Longo suggested future studies could explore how the virus affects the fetus and the baby after birth, particularly in terms of developmental outcomes.
