CLEVELAND — A new study published in the online journal American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology MFM, has projected 52 coronavirus (COVID-19) related maternal deaths in the United States so far this year.
"We know that pregnancy alters the immune system, and given the fact that the majority of American women deliver in a hospital setting it creates a unique challenge in the fight against the novel coronavirus," said David Hackney, MD, Director Maternal Fetal Medicine, UH Cleveland Medical Center, and an author on the study.
Physician-researchers from University Hospitals and Georgia State University studied incidence data from March 1, 2020 to April 14, 2020 to forecast the impact of COVID-19 on child labor and delivery hospitalization. The study was a phenomenological model to forecast the incidence of COVID-19 in the US April 15, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020. It mirrors a model that successfully forecasted the incidence of COVID-19 in several provinces in China.
"Our model projects an increase in the United States' maternal mortality rate to at least 18.7 per 100,000 live births as a direct result of this pandemic," stated Manesha Putra, MD, Maternal Fetal Medicine, UH Cleveland Medical Center and principal investigator on the study. "More specifically, the study predicts 3,308 severe and 681 critical COVID-19 cases among delivering women in the US, with about 52 mortalities."
This is believed to be the first study to forecast the impact of COVID-19 in pregnancy.
Other authors on the study are Malavika Kesavan from the Department of Reproductive Biology at Case Western Reserve University; Kerri Brackney, MD, Maternal Fetal Medicine, UH Cleveland Medical Center; and Kimberlyn Roose from the Department of Population Health Sciences at Georgia State University.
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