Objective: Nonpregnant individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM) or hypertension (HTN) experience greater complications of COVID-infection. Gestational DM (GDM) and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) confer increased maternal and fetal morbidity; but whether the association of DM and HTN with COVID-illness in the non-pregnant state also exists in pregnancy is unclear. Therefore, we investigated associations between COVID-and GDM and HDP in a large urban inner-city population.
Study Design: We performed a case control study among women with and without COVID-infection; controls were matched for gestational age and time of COVID-test between 3/2020 and 10/2020. Maternal demographic and clinical data including COVID-infection status were abstracted. Chi-square, logistic and linear regression were used for analysis.
Results: A total of 87 women with and 9women without COVID-infection were included in the study. There was no significant association between COVID-infection and GDM (10.3% COVID positive, 9.9% COVID negative, p=0.89) . Similarly, there was no association between COVID-infection and HDP (37.9% COVID positive, 37.3% COVID negative, p=0.911) . Despite no associations between COVID-infection and GDM or HDP, subjects with COVID-infection were more likely to be obese based on pre-pregnancy BMI (p = 0.047) .
Conclusions: Unlike in the non-pregnant state, COVID-infection was not significantly associated with GDM or HDP in our diverse, urban inner-city population. Our data suggest that beyond gestational metabolic dysregulation, maternal obesity alone may increase a woman’s vulnerability to COVID-infection in pregnancy. Given that the COVID-pandemic is still rampant, and that obesity affects one third of reproductive age women, future studies are essential to elucidate the mechanisms underlying this association.
A.D.Forrest: None. S.Chandrasekaran: None. M.Higgins: None. E.Ferranti: None.