The Effect of Being Pregnant during Respiratory Pandemics: A Comparison between 2009/10 Flu and 2020/21 COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil
Ana Beatrice Bonganha Zanon,
Elias Ribeiro Rosa Júnior,
Nátaly Adriana Jiménez Monroy,
Luciana Graziela de Godoi,
Bruna Rodrigues de Mattos,
Cristiane de Freitas Paganoti,
Rossana Pulcineli Vieira Francisco,
Agatha Sacramento Rodrigues,
Rafaela Alkmin da Costa
Affiliations
Ana Beatrice Bonganha Zanon
Divisão de Clinica Obstetrica, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, 255 Dr. Eneas Carvalho de Aguiar Avenue, 10th Floor, São Paulo 05403-000, Brazil
Elias Ribeiro Rosa Júnior
Departamento de Estatística, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, 514 Fernando Ferrari Avenue, Goiabeira, Vitória 29075-910, Brazil
Nátaly Adriana Jiménez Monroy
Departamento de Estatística, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, 514 Fernando Ferrari Avenue, Goiabeira, Vitória 29075-910, Brazil
Luciana Graziela de Godoi
Departamento de Estatística, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, 514 Fernando Ferrari Avenue, Goiabeira, Vitória 29075-910, Brazil
Bruna Rodrigues de Mattos
Departamento de Estatística, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, 514 Fernando Ferrari Avenue, Goiabeira, Vitória 29075-910, Brazil
Cristiane de Freitas Paganoti
Divisão de Clinica Obstetrica, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, 255 Dr. Eneas Carvalho de Aguiar Avenue, 10th Floor, São Paulo 05403-000, Brazil
Rossana Pulcineli Vieira Francisco
Disciplina de Obstetrícia, Departamento de Obstetrícia e Ginecologia, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-000, Brazil
Agatha Sacramento Rodrigues
Departamento de Estatística, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, 514 Fernando Ferrari Avenue, Goiabeira, Vitória 29075-910, Brazil
Rafaela Alkmin da Costa
Divisão de Clinica Obstetrica, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, 255 Dr. Eneas Carvalho de Aguiar Avenue, 10th Floor, São Paulo 05403-000, Brazil
Pregnant women undergo physiological changes that make them a challenging group of patients during pandemic respiratory diseases, as previously found during H1N1 2009 pandemic and recently ratified in COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis on 5888 hospitalized women for H1N1 flu pandemic (2190 pregnant and 3698 non-pregnant) and 64,515 hospitalized women for COVID-19 pandemic (5151 pregnant and 59,364 non-pregnant), from the Brazilian national database, to compare demographic profile, clinical aspects, and mortality in childbearing aged women during both pandemics. Additionally, the effect of being pregnant was compared between both pandemics. In both pandemics, pregnant women were younger than non-pregnant women. Overall, pregnant women had lower frequencies of comorbidities and were less symptomatic. Among hospitalized women, pregnant women presented lower mortality rates than non-pregnant women (9.7% vs. 12.6%, p = 0.002 in the H1N1 pandemic and 9.7% vs. 17.4%, p < 0.001 in the COVID-19 pandemic) and this difference was statistically more pronounced in the COVID-19 pandemic, even after balancing pregnant and non-pregnant groups regarding age and chronic diseases.
