Epidemiological aspects of COVID-19 in pregnant women in the state of Amazonas, Brazil

Abstract

Background and purpose: Pregnant women if infected with COVID-19 are vulnerable and considered as a risk group. The objective of this research was to analyze the epidemiological aspects of COVID-19 cases in pregnant women registered from 2020 to 2021, in the State of Amazonas, Brazil.
Methods: This was an analysis of data obtained from the website of the Brazilian Obstetric Observatory COVID-19 (OOBr COVID-19).
Results: During the defined study period a total of 565 pregnants were diagnosed with severe acute respiratory syndrome caused (SARS) by COVID-19 in the Amazon state. Of these 546 (96.6%) required hospitalization, 9 (1.6%) were not hospitalized and 10 (1.8%) did not report if they need hospitalization or not. The highest number of cases was recorded in the third trimester of pregnancy (n=291, 51.5%), followed by the second trimester (n=130, 23.0%), unreported gestational age (n=76, 13.5%) and by the first gestational trimester (n=68, 12.0%). A 64.2% of affected women were predominantly young adults, aged 20 to 34 (n=363). Regarding antiviral treatment, 50.1% (n=283) used Zanamivir and 24.2% (n=137) used Oseltamivir. A 25.7% (n=145) did not report the used medication. The most reported symptoms were cough, fever, dyspnea, respiratory distress, odynophagia, low oxygen saturation, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, anosmia/hyposmia, ageusia and abdominal pain. The most frequently associated conditions were asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, hematological disease, neuropathies, immunodepression, liver disease, pneumopathies and kidney disease. A 12.4% of the women (n=70) required ICU and 64.4% (n=364) did not. A 19.1% (n=108) required noninvasive ventilatory support (NIV), 8.8% (n=50) invasive ventilation (IV) and 42.5% (n=240) no ventilatory support. A 79.5% (n=449) of the pregnant women with COVID-19 were cured and an 8.0% (n=45) died.
Conclusions: Due to complications, and scarcity of information during pregnancy, systematized care and COVID-19 vaccination in this risk group is needed.