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Results show that COVID injections during pregnancy can offer protection, researchers say.
Unvaccinated pregnant women who contracted COVID-19 were more likely to have babies with respiratory distress, a new study published this week found.
A team of researchers led by the University of California, Los Angeles examined 221 pregnant people for the study, including 151 who were unvaccinated before becoming infected with COVID, which was confirmed with a laboratory test.
The 151 unvaccinated pregnant people met with the National Institutes of Health. criteria for severe or critical COVID-19, while only 4% of the 70 pregnant people vaccinated met the criteria.
Researchers were able to examine 199 babies, all born between April 2020 and August 2022, and none of whom tested positive for the virus. The remaining 28 fetuses resulted in miscarriage, abortion, or stillbirth, or could not be followed up.
The team found that exposure to COVID-19 in utero “can activate an inflammatory cascade” in the airways of newborns, causing respiratory distress. One of the main pathways appears to be associated with the function of cilia, the small hair-like structures on the surface of cells that normally help push germs, mucus, and other particles toward the mouth so they can cough or sneeze.
The results, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that the odds of respiratory distress were up to three times higher in babies born unvaccinated than in vaccinated ones.
“We found unusually high rates of respiratory distress shortly after birth in full-term babies born to mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy,” said Dr. Karin Nielsen, a professor of pediatrics in the University’s division of pediatric infectious diseases. from UCLA, David Geffen. Faculty of Medicine, said in a statement. “The mothers had not been vaccinated before contracting COVID, indicating that vaccination protects against this complication.”
More research is needed to determine whether COVID-19 still affects respiratory distress when other factors that lead to respiratory distress syndrome are taken into account.
Respiratory distress in babies is defined as difficulty breathing or working harder to breathe within the first 24 hours. Signs may include wheezing, sweating, changes in breathing rate, or color changes around the lips or mouth, depending on Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Research has shown that pregnant people with COVID-19 are at increased risk of becoming seriously ill, leading to hospitalization, intensive care, use of a ventilator, or even death. COVID-19 during pregnancy also increases the risk of a baby being born prematurely or stillborn.
“Our results demonstrate that maternal COVID-19 vaccination not only protects against the severity of maternal disease, but also reduces the likelihood of neonatal death. [respiratory distress]”the authors wrote.
The study had several limitations, such as a small, homogeneous sample size and a wide estimation range, which affected generalizability. More research is needed to validate these findings.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends that all pregnant people be vaccinated against COVID-19 and that studies have shown that there are no safety concerns for babies born to those who have been vaccinated.