Pregnant women are at higher risk of developing severe Covid-19. They are also more likely to have preterm birth and other pregnancy related outcomes.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will examine the long-term effects of Covid-19 in 1500 women who had acquired the infection during pregnancy as part  of its Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative to investigate the long-term effects of COVID-19.

The study participants would be recruited from a previous study of 4100 patients with asymptomatic and symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy, conducted by the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units (MFMU) Network, a 36-site research collaboration carried out with the support of National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).These women had delivered at the MFMU Network hospitals.

The participants would be monitored regularly during the four-years of follow-up. Their children would also be evaluated for any potential long-term effects including neurologic symptoms and cardiovascular outcomes.

Some of the research questions that will be examined in the study include the impact of severity of Covid-19 during pregnancy on chances of developing long Covid and  estimating the percentage of women who are at risk for long Covid. The study would also compare Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection (PASC) after Covid-19 in pregnancy with PASC in non-pregnant women. The researchers are hopeful that the findings of the study would help to reduce the chances of long Covid after pregnancy and to manage the symptoms of long Covid.

(Source: NIH, November 2, 2021)