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. 2021 Mar 25;11(1):6928.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-86452-3.

Symptoms and syndromes associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and severity in pregnant women from two community cohorts

Erika Molteni #  1 , Christina M Astley #  2 , Wenjie Ma #  3 , Carole H Sudre  4 , Laura A Magee  5 , Benjamin Murray  4 , Tove Fall  6 , Maria F Gomez  7 , Neli Tsereteli  7 , Paul W Franks  7 , John S Brownstein  2 , Richard Davies  8 , Jonathan Wolf  8 , Tim D Spector  9 , Sebastien Ourselin  4 , Claire J Steves  9 , Andrew T Chan #  3 , Marc Modat #  4
Affiliations

Symptoms and syndromes associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and severity in pregnant women from two community cohorts

Erika Molteni et al. Sci Rep. .

Erratum in

Abstract

We tested whether pregnant and non-pregnant women differ in COVID-19 symptom profile and severity, and we extended previous investigations on hospitalized pregnant women to those who did not require hospitalization. Two female community-based cohorts (18-44 years) provided longitudinal (smartphone application, N = 1,170,315, n = 79 pregnant tested positive) and cross-sectional (web-based survey, N = 1,344,966, n = 134 pregnant tested positive) data, prospectively collected through self-participatory citizen surveillance in UK, Sweden and USA. Pregnant and non-pregnant were compared for frequencies of events, including SARS-CoV-2 testing, symptoms and hospitalization rates. Multivariable regression was used to investigate symptoms severity and comorbidity effects. Pregnant and non-pregnant women positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection were not different in syndromic severity, except for gastrointestinal symptoms. Pregnant were more likely to have received testing, despite reporting fewer symptoms. Pre-existing lung disease was most closely associated with syndromic severity in pregnant hospitalized. Heart and kidney diseases and diabetes increased risk. The most frequent symptoms among non-hospitalized women were anosmia [63% pregnant, 92% non-pregnant] and headache [72%, 62%]. Cardiopulmonary symptoms, including persistent cough [80%] and chest pain [73%], were more frequent among pregnant who were hospitalized. Consistent with observations in non-pregnant populations, lung disease and diabetes were associated with increased risk of more severe SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

ATC previously served as an investigator on a clinical trial of diet and lifestyle using a separate mobile application that was supported by Zoe Global Ltd. All the other authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Receiver operating characteristics curve showing validation of the imputation of SARS-CoV-2 test status using the mapped symptom score probability in the replication cohort. Area under the curve is 74%.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of symptoms presentation in the discovery (DC) and replication (RC) cohorts. Results refer to non-pregnant (orange) and pregnant (blue) women tested positive and suspected positive for SARS-CoV-2 and who required hospitalization (in DC, darker shade) or were seen at the hospital (RC, lighter shade). Results are reported as age-standardized percentage of women reporting each symptom in each sub-cohort.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Symptom profile of hospitalized and non-hospitalized pregnant (a) and non-pregnant (b) women positive and suspected positive to SARS-CoV-2 in the discovery cohort. Results are reported in percentage of women reporting each symptom in each group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Update of

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