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.

Disclosure

A.D.Forrest: None. S.Chandrasekaran: None. M.Higgins: None. E.Ferranti: None.

Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered. More information is available at http://www.diabetesjournals.org/content/license.