The omicron variant increases the risk of complications during pregnancy.

A international study in which participated the Vall d’Hebron Hospital of Barcelona and Lozano Blesa Hospital in Zaragoza has demonstrated that the pregnant have a increased risk of complications by covid omicron variant infection. and that the vaccination, especially with booster doses, is highly effective in protection.

The project INTERCOVID 2022, coordinated from the University of Oxford (UK) and published in the journal ‘The Lancet’, has been carried out in 41 hospitals in 18 countries to assess the impact of the omicron variant of covid during pregnancy.

The results reinforce what has already been known since April 2021, when it was confirmed that the. risk of complications increased in pregnant women who became infected by SARS-CoV-2, although the latter study provides evidence with data from infected with omicron and the efficacy of vaccination against this variant.

The researchers studied 1,545 pregnant women diagnosed with covid and 3,073 pregnant women without the infection, over a period comprising between November 2021 and June 2022, when Omicron was predominant.

The results showed that, during pregnancy, the omicron variant was associated with a increased complications and income in the hospital, either for symptomatology symptoms of covid (such as respiratory difficulties) as well as pregnancy.

Severe symptoms appeared in between 4% and 7% of unvaccinated women. diagnosed with the omicron variant and was especially high in obese or overweight women.

In particular, among women with severe symptomatology there was an increased rate of risk of preterm delivery and of preeclampsia, which is the arterial hypertension during pregnancy, which can cause serious damage to the pregnant woman and the baby.

On the other hand, the investigators observed that vaccination offered a high protection against severe symptoms of covid and against pregnancy complications.

The effectiveness of the vaccine was 74% in women with the complete vaccination schedule and reached 91% in those who had received a booster dose.

“It’s very solid information in terms of, in pregnant women, the vaccination Reduces the risk of complication; protects them from excess prematurity and hypertensive complications, as well as protecting the mother from ending up in the ICU due to respiratory complications”, emphasized Nerea Maiz, a specialist in the Obstetrics Department at Vall d’Hebron.

Thus, this study supports the recommendation for vaccination with booster doses to all pregnant women, which is indicated at any time during pregnancy as long as 10 months have passed since the last injection, Maiz said.

With regard to the type of immunization received, the mRNA vaccines (such as those of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) were more effective in preventing severe symptoms and complications. for at least 10 months from the last dose.

Vaccines with viral vectors (such as those from AstraZeneca and Janssen) also offered a adequate protection if a booster dose had been administered.

As for the side effects of vaccination, were observed neither in the mother nor in the fetus or newborn, even having received the vaccine during gestation.