The covid-19 pandemic caused more deaths in pregnant and puerperal women than in the general population, reveals the Study of the Covid-19 Fiocruz Observatory. The survey, published in the scientific journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirthestimated the high number of maternal deaths directly and indirectly caused by covid-19 in Brazil in 2020.
According to the study, in 2020, there was an excess of maternal deaths of 40%, when compared to previous years. Even considering the expected increase in deaths in general due to the covid-19 pandemic, there was still an excess of 14%.
The chances of a resident of the rural area dying was 61% higher; black women were 44% more likely to die and those hospitalized outside the city of residence, 28% more than the control group. Throughout 2020, the country recorded 549 maternal deaths from covid-19, mainly in pregnant women in the second and third trimester.
The research identified that the chances of hospitalization of pregnant women diagnosed with covid-19 were 337% higher. For ICU admissions (intensive care units), the odds were 73% higher and the use of invasive ventilatory support 64% higher than general patients with covid-19 who died in 2020.
The study used data from the Influenza Epidemiological Surveillance Information System (Sivep-Flu) for deaths from covid-19 in the years 2020 and 2021, and compared it with data from the Mortality Information System in 2020 (when there was already a pandemic). ) and in the previous five years, to estimate the expected number of maternal deaths in the country.
In the evaluation of the researcher Raphael Guimarães, the delay in immunization against the virus can to have caused an increase in deaths among pregnant women. For him, the study showed that maternal death is marked by social inequalities, which are closely related to the provision of quality services.
“The service network seems to have been more protective of pregnant and puerperal women, ensuring more immediate admissions and directing to intensive and invasive therapies. However, the delay in starting vaccination among pregnant and postpartum women can to have been decisive in the greater penalization of these women. We also highlight that the excess of deaths had covid-19 not only as a direct cause, but also increased the number of deaths of women who cannot access prenatal care.Christmas and adequate conditions for giving birth in the country”, said the main investigator of the study.
