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. 2023 Apr 3;62(4):1621-1626.
doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keac534.

Obstetric outcomes in women with rheumatic disease and COVID-19 in the context of vaccination status

Sinead Maguire  1   2 , Samar Al-Emadi  3 , Paula Alba  4   5 , Mathia Cecilia Aguiar  6 , Talal Al Lawati  7 , Gelsomina Alle  8 , Bonnie Bermas  9 , Suleman Bhana  10 , Anic Branimir  11   12 , Inita Bulina  13   14 , Megan Clowse  15 , Karina Cogo  16   17 , Iris Colunga  18 , Claire Cook  19 , Karen J Cortez  20 , Kathryn Dao  9 , Milena Gianfrancesco  21 , Monique Gore-Massey  22 , Laure Gossec  23   24 , Rebecca Grainger  25 , Jonathon Hausman  26   27 , Tiffany Y T Hsu  28   29 , Kimme Hyrich  30   31   32 , Carolina Isnardi  33 , Yumeko Kawano  28 , Rachael Kilding  34 , Daria A Kusevich  35 , Saskia Lawson-Tovey  31   32   36   37 , Jean Liew  38 , Eoghan McCarthy  39 , Anna Montgumery  21   40 , Sebastian Moyano  8 , Noreen Nasir  41 , Ivan Padjen  11   12 , Charalampos Papagoras  42 , Naomi J Patel  19 , Mariana Pera  43 , Cecilia Pisoni  44 , Guillermo Pons-Estel, Antonio L Quiambao  45 , Rosana Quintana  33 , Eric Ruderman  46 , Sebastian Sattui  47 , Veronica Savio  4 , Savino Sciascia  48 , Marieta Sencarova  49 , Rosa Serrano Morales  50 , Faizah Siddique  51 , Emily Sirotich  52 , Jeffrey Sparks  27   28 , Anja Strangfeld  53 , Paul Sufka  54 , Helen Tanner  55   56 , Yohana Tissera  4 , Zachary Wallace  19   28 , Marina L Werner  57 , Leanna Wise  58 , Angus B Worthing  59   60 , JoAnn Zell  61 , Julija Zepa  62   63 , Pedro M Machado  64   65   66 , Jinoos Yazdany  21 , Philip Robinson  55   56   67 , Richard Conway  1   2
Affiliations

Obstetric outcomes in women with rheumatic disease and COVID-19 in the context of vaccination status

Sinead Maguire et al. Rheumatology (Oxford). .

Abstract

Objective: To describe obstetric outcomes based on COVID-19 vaccination status, in women with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) who developed COVID-19 during pregnancy.

Methods: Data regarding pregnant women entered into the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance registry from 24 March 2020-25 February 2022 were analysed. Obstetric outcomes were stratified by number of COVID-19 vaccine doses received prior to COVID-19 infection in pregnancy. Descriptive differences between groups were tested using the chi-squared or Fisher's exact test.

Results: There were 73 pregnancies in 73 women with RMD and COVID-19. Overall, 24.7% (18) of pregnancies were ongoing, while of the 55 completed pregnancies, 90.9% (50) of pregnancies resulted in livebirths. At the time of COVID-19 diagnosis, 60.3% (n = 44) of women were unvaccinated, 4.1% (n = 3) had received one vaccine dose while 35.6% (n = 26) had two or more doses. Although 83.6% (n = 61) of women required no treatment for COVID-19, 20.5% (n = 15) required hospital admission. COVID-19 resulted in delivery in 6.8% (n = 3) of unvaccinated women and 3.8% (n = 1) of fully vaccinated women. There was a greater number of preterm births (PTB) in unvaccinated women compared with fully vaccinated 29.5% (n = 13) vs 18.2% (n = 2).

Conclusions: In this descriptive study, unvaccinated pregnant women with RMD and COVID-19 had a greater number of PTB compared with those fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Additionally, the need for COVID-19 pharmacological treatment was uncommon in pregnant women with RMD regardless of vaccination status. These results support active promotion of COVID-19 vaccination in women with RMD who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy.

Keywords: COVID-19; patient outcomes; pregnancy; rheumatic disease; vaccination; women’s health.

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