Pregnant women with H1N1 more at risk of dying from complications
POSTED March 19, 2010 - 16:57 | POSTED BY Kangna Agarwal
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on March 19, 2010 - 18:05
Findings of the study confirm the previously done research that pregnant women are more likely to suffer from serious medical complications if they get infected with the swine flu virus.
Details of the study
A research team led by Dr. Ian Seppelt from the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Influenza Investigators examined the medical records of 229 women with swine flu who were hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) between June and August 2009.
Of these, 64 women were pregnant or had given birth in the last 28 days before contracting the virus.
None of these women had been immunized against the seasonal flu, despite strict medical recommendations, noted the researchers.
Outcome of the study
Analysis of the data revealed that women who were more than 20 weeks pregnant had 13 times increased likelihood to be admitted to an ICU than non-pregnant women who had swine flu.
About 69 percent of these women faced severe difficulty breathing so they had to be put on ventilators to help with breathing.
Further, it was found that 11 percent of the mothers and 12 percent of the infants had died after admission to the ICU with swine flu.
"Although a mortality of 11 percent seems low when compared to usual outcomes of respiratory failure in intensive care ... a maternal mortality of 11 percent is high when compared with any other obstetric condition," Seppelt was quoted by the Reuters as saying.
Overall, the researchers found that women with swine flu were more likely to suffer critical illness if they were pregnant.
Though the findings are ‘significant’ it is difficult to draw valid conclusions as the number of pregnant women who got infected with the virus was very small, the researchers conceded.
The study appears in the British Medical Journal.
WHO estimates on swine flu
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), so far 16,200 people worldwide have lost their lives to the lethal influenza.
Although the virus is exhibiting signs of waning, the danger is not over yet as sporadic cases of H1N1-related deaths and infections continue to surface in different parts of the world, it said.
Therefore, all those in the high risk groups, particularly pregnant women and children, should be given proper access to vaccination.
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