Covid and the risk of stillbirth

[Lucidas]

A UK study now shows that having covid in the final trimester doubles your risk of stillbirth:

Scientists calculate 8.5 per 1,000 women who had a positive test went on to experience a stillbirth
This compares to 3.4 per 1,000 women who had a negative test

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57193361

The absolute number remains relatively low, but it's interesting how this compares to the risk of stillbirth after 42 weeks of pregnancy (4-7 deaths per 1000 deliveries). That's a risk commonly acknowledged by many mothers and doctors to be far too high a risk to want to take - hence early induction etc. Others are personally happy - in their own risk assessment - to go past 42 weeks.

Would this information change your attitude about getting vaccinated in pregnancy or not?

Is there a figure available for those who have gone on to have a stillbirth after having the vaccine?

@JaffaRaf

Is there a figure available for those who have gone on to have a stillbirth after having the vaccine?

There's data somewhere from the CDC on the 90,000 pregnant women who were vaccinated against covid. From what I know, the rates of miscarriage/preterm birth/stillbirth were no higher than what would be expected in the general pregnant population, hence why the rollout was recommended in the UK. Perhaps someone else has that figure.

It was more common for women who had Covid-19 at the time of birth to be younger and from a black, Asian or other minority ethnic background

We also know that black women have poorer standard of maternity services. They are much more likely to die in childbirth or pregnancy, they are much more likely to suffer a miscarriage and their rate of stillbirth is higher. The article below states that in 2017 the rate of still births for black women was almost double that of the UK national average. Whilst there is probably some increase in still births as a result of covid, I don’t think the researchers can definitively say it’s more than double the current average rate, when black women have a substantially higher rate of still births and making up a large percentage of those testing positive in the study. There is a very small increase in the rate of stillbirths in 2017 for black women versus the chance of stillbirth after testing positive with covid.

www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/bjom.2020.28.5.297?journalCode=bjom

I’m not pregnant but I don’t think this information would encourage me to take the vaccine whilst pregnant. I’d need more detail about the statistic. What the last 15 months has demonstrated above all else is that the statistics are constantly manipulated to suit the latest agenda and I still don’t think it has been anywhere near long enough to ascertain whether it is indeed safe or not.

I read a different study which questioned the covid statistics regarding risks during pregnancy and it suggested that due to the fact every single pregnant woman entering hospital was tested for covid that the positive figures could be regarded as potentially over stated. Similarly, complications or still births that tragically could have occurred anyway now get labelled as happening ‘with covid’. We don’t know how many were as a result of covid or how many were coincidental and not linked. This statistic doesn’t break that down but just like the total mortality rate, I’m pretty sure it could be adjusted quite dramatically if the stats were separated into ‘with covid’ and ‘due to covid’.
Ultimately, the demographic of women having babies is the under 45’s in the large part and this group have been shown to have extremely low risk of becoming seriously ill with covid or dying.

I was about to say what @InTheNightWeWillWish has...

The stats need to account for the correlation between C19 infection and other markers of risk to health, which without c19 would have put women at higher risk of still birth

This was big news in Ireland at the beginning of the year. There were unfortunately 5/6 cases of still birth linked directly to something Covid can do to the placenta. Big push to get pregnant women vaccinated here.

I didn’t manage to find that info, although I did only have a quick look, but the cdc website says limited information is known about the risks of the vaccines to pregnant women but experiments on animals showed no increased risks. I think it’s worth pregnant women making their own risk assessment on it, particularly based on their own circumstances and stillbirth/serious illness risk. Yes the risks of serious illness may be higher if you get covid, but you arnt guaranteed to get covid whilst pregnant, especially while case rates are very low, if you do get the vaccine you are obviously exposing yourself to all the risks and benefits it’s poses. Stillbirth rates could have also increased due to decreased accessibility of maternity services over the last year at times, or various other reasons. It’s not a simple decision for anyone to make.

One of the side effects of COVID is blot clots. Blood clots in the placenta are bad news, so no big surprise really.

I'm in Germany and the advice here is still no unless you have underlying health conditions making it more risky for you personally.

The approach is instead to vaccinate close contact people with pregnant women and limit your contacts to others. I've been signed off work since 6 weeks pregnant and I only work in retail.

The stillbirth risk may be doubled, but I'm guessing if you've had covid they would monitor you much more closely and get the baby out if needed. Whereas the risk of the vaccine is still unknown.

The key word in that headline for me is ' may increase'

I am 37 weeks now and haven't been offered/can't book a covid vaccine because I'm 27 and have no conditions so have to wait for my age group still despite being pregnant that's how it is.
I would of thought they would of opened it up to pregnant women before there age group tbh
I won't be offered until birth now most likely