HIGHLIGHTS
- CDC needed data rapidly on COVID-19 effects on pregnant women.
- Abt leveraged its existing infrastructure to track COVID-19 during pregnancy and infancy.
- Results are ongoing.
The Challenge
Pregnant women may be more vulnerable than the general population to respiratory infections and severe respiratory complications from COVID-19, and CDC needs more research on their potential effects on birth outcomes to continue to guide the public. In particular, CDC needs timely information on the risk factors for infection, characteristics of COVID-19 illness and complications, and the effects of infection on pregnancy and infant outcomes. A better understanding may help inform future public health COVID-19 policy for pregnant women and infants.
The Approach
Abt used an existing network of sites and protocols from CDC Pandemic Flu and Global Flu contracts to study COVID-19 in pregnant women. The studies included a retrospective electronic medical record review of women seeking prenatal care and a community-based cohort seeking prenatal care at participating clinics followed throughout pregnancy. We identified COVID-19 (and vaccine) knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs, pregnancy/infant outcomes, and potential COVID-19 cases. The data can improve modelling of respiratory illness burden and characteristics during pregnancy.
The Results
Results are ongoing.
Learn more:
- Association between SARS‐CoV‐2 infections during pregnancy and preterm live birth
- Neutralizing Antibody Responses to mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines versus SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Pregnant Women and Vaccine Induced Antibody Transfer to Infants
- Assessment of Neurodevelopment in Infants With and Without Exposure to Asymptomatic or Mild Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection During Pregnancy
- Incidence Rates of Medically Attended COVID-19 in Infants Less Than 6 Months of Age
- Agreement Between Pregnant Individuals' Self-Report of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination and Medical Record Documentation
- Medically-attended, Influenza During Pregnancy in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 Influenza Seasons
- SARS-CoV-2 Testing and Detection During Peripartum Hospitalizations Among a Multi-center Cohort of Pregnant Persons, March 2020–February 2021
- Incidence and Clinical Characteristics of and Risk Factors for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection Among Pregnant Individuals in the United States
- Factors Associated with Hospitalization with Symptomatic COVID-19 Illness Among Pregnant Individuals: A Multi-Center Retrospective Cohort Study
- Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Illness and COVID-19 Vaccination among Pregnant Women: A Cross-Sectional Multicenter Study during August-December 2020