Danish study shows that COVID-19 does not affect pregnant mothers or their newborns
Danish study shows that COVID-19 does not affect pregnant mothers or their newborns

Insight

Danish study shows that COVID-19 does not affect pregnant mothers or their newborns

Insight

Danish study shows that COVID-19 does not affect pregnant mothers or their newborns

Researchers from Denmark got busy as they were among the first researchers globally to collect data on pregnant women with COVID-19. Their results show that the virus adversely affected neither the mothers nor their newborns.

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Important new studies from Denmark underlines once again that Denmark offers some of the best possibilities for researchers to examine important topics by cross-linking data and bio-samples from the substantives of the many Danish health registries and databases and all the public biobanks. 
 
For obvious reasons, many pregnant women who have contracted COVID-19 have been concerned about how it would affect the risk of complications to them and their child during pregnancy or childbirth.
 
Since scarcely anyone had heard of COVID-19 until early 2020, physicians could not provide pregnant mothers with any reassuring answers because this had never been investigated – until now.
 
According to Science news.dk, two studies by researchers and physicians in Denmark has shown that COVID-19 in the first trimester does not appear to increase the risk of pregnancy loss. The studies also showed that COVID-19 does not affect the risk of complications in the other trimesters or during labour.
 
Researchers from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre in Denmark, concludes that this is a very positive result. However, it should be noted that women of childbearing age in Denmark are generally quite healthy and that all pregnant women in Denmark have access to relevant healthcare services and therefore do not have a pre-existing high risk of complications in connection with COVID-19.
 

COVID-19 does not increase the risk of pregnancy loss

The researchers found that 2.6% of the women giving birth and 3.5% of their partners had COVID-19 in the latter stages of pregnancy.

Other infectious viruses may negatively affect both the mother and the fetus such as measles or severe flu, but COVID-19 does not appear to have the same harmful effect on the fetus.
 
The results from the first trimester showed that having COVID-19 was not associated with the result from the fetal nuchal translucency scan or the risk of pregnancy loss in the first trimester.

No additional complications among pregnant women with COVID-19

In the second part of the study, the researchers aimed to determine whether COVID-19 negatively affected obstetric complications, including the risk of caesarean section or complications in the later stages of pregnancy. Again, the researchers found no difference in the risk of caesarean section, premature birth, preeclampsia, placental abruption or the baby’s Apgar score, birthweight, umbilical cord pH, need for breathing support and admission to the neonatal ward. Conversely, they found that, if the mother had COVID-19, the baby also often had antibodies to SARS-CoV-19, which probably protected the baby against the disease.

More results on the way

This is the first published results from the study, which are part of a larger research project, which looks into the possible links between COVID-19 and pregnancy.
 
The physicians included 5,400 active participants and 35,000 samples stored in the Copenhagen Hospital Biobank. These include samples taken in the second and third trimesters and placenta biopsies and breast-milk, which the researchers will examine.
 
Furthermore, the researchers plan to determine how COVID-19 affects the immune systems of both the pregnant women and the newborns.

The world’s most interesting research

In parallel with the COVID-19 project, the researchers and physicians from Hvidovre Hospital are working on a large research project called Copenhagen Pregnancy Loss Cohort supported by the BioInnovation Institute as a faculty project. The researchers want to determine the underlying cause of all the pregnancy losses.  


25% percent of all pregnancies are lost. Although this happens so frequently, physicians know incredibly little about the underlying mechanisms. Many losses result from genetic defects, but very little is known about whether the genetic defects result from conditions either from the father or mother or whether something different is involved. Today, physicians only examine couples when they have experienced at least three consecutive pregnancy losses.

Denmark offers the best possibilities for researchers to examine this important topic with the possibilities of cross-linking data and bio-samples from the substantives of the many Danish health registrar and databases, as long with all the public biobanksDenmark offers the best possibilities for researchers to examine this important topic with the possibilities of cross-linking data and bio-samples from the substantives of the many Danish health registrar and databases, as long with all the public biobanks.

It provides the researchers the possibilities to examining the genetics of the parents and the fetuses and on top of that, lifestyle factors among both men and women including smoking, alcohol, weight, exercise, the immune system, hormones, endocrine disruptors and the microbiome. Researchers also have sperm samples from the men to investigate whether semen factors can cause pregnancy loss. All these possibilities, which are available in Denmark, makes the Copenhagen Pregnancy Loss Cohort one of the world’s most interesting research projects.

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Copenhagen

  • Sarina Lohmann

    Title: Special Advisor – Maritime and transport – Analysis & Partnerships

    Area: Copenhagen

    Phone: +4533920423

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