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. 2023 Mar;16(3):430-440.
doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2023.01.012. Epub 2023 Jan 20.

Comparative analysis of long-term self-reported COVID-19 symptoms among pregnant women

Jorge Vásconez-González  1 , Raul Fernandez-Naranjo  2 , Juan S Izquierdo-Condoy  3 , Karen Delgado-Moreira  2 , Simone Cordovez  2 , Andrea Tello-De-la-Torre  2 , Clara Paz  2 , Diana Castillo  2 , Nathaly Izquierdo-Condoy  4 , Sarah J Carrington  2 , Esteban Ortiz-Prado  5
Affiliations

Comparative analysis of long-term self-reported COVID-19 symptoms among pregnant women

Jorge Vásconez-González et al. J Infect Public Health. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Background: The negative effects of COVID-19 infections during pregnancy have been amply described, however, the persistent sequels of this infection have not been explored so far.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe persisting symptoms after COVID-19 infection in pregnant and non-pregnant women in Ecuador.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis based on an online, self-reporting questionnaire was conducted in Ecuador from April to July 2022. Participants were invited by social media, radio, and TV to voluntarily participate in our study. A total of 457 surveys were included in this study. We compared risk factor variables and long-term persisting symptoms of pregnant and non-pregnant women in Ecuador.

Results: Overall, 247 (54.1 %) responders claimed to have long-term symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Most of these symptoms were reported by non-pregnant women (94.0 %). The most common Long-COVID symptoms in pregnant women were fatigue (10.6 %), hair loss (9.6 %), and difficulty concentrating (6.2 %). We found that pregnant women who smoked had a higher risk of suffering fatigue.

Conclusions: The most frequent Long-COVID symptoms in pregnant women were fatigue, hair loss, and difficulty concentrating. Apparently, the patterns of presentation of long-term sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women do not differ significantly from reports available from studies in the general population.

Keywords: COVID-19; Long-COVID; Pregnancy; SARS-CoV-2; Sequalae; Women.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests None declared.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Distribution of most frequent Long-COVID symptoms for each participants group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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