Characteristics and Medication Use Patterns of Pregnancies with COVID-19
Ending in Live-Birth in the Sentinel System
Abstract
Background: Pregnant individuals are at high risk for
developing severe illness related to COVID-19. We adapted the “COVID-19
infectiOn aNd medicineS In pregnancy” (CONSIGN) CONSIGN study protocol
as part of an international collaboration to understand the natural
history of COVID-19 disease among pregnant individuals in the U.S.
Methods: We identified individuals aged 12 to 55 years with
documented live-birth deliveries in the Sentinel Distributed Database
who had at least one qualifying diagnosis for COVID-19 or
positive-confirmed nucleic acid amplification test for SARS-CoV-2. We
conducted separate 1:1 propensity score matched analyses comparing
pregnant individuals with COVID-19 to: 1) pregnant individuals without
COVID-19 during six months prior to or during pregnancy; and 2)
non-pregnant individuals with COVID-19. Results: From January
2020 to December 2022 , we identified 52,355 pregnant
individuals with COVID-19 matched to 52,355 pregnant individuals without
COVID-19. Outpatient medication use in the 30 days surrounding COVID-19
date (or matched date) was generally low but similar between pregnant
individuals with and without COVID-19. We identified 40,518 pregnant
individuals with COVID-19 matched to 40,518 non-pregnant individuals
with COVID-19. Medication use in 30 days prior to COVID-19 was higher
among non-pregnant than pregnant individuals with COVID-19. More
pregnant individuals than matched non-pregnant individuals were
classified as non-severe (87.2% vs. 79.9%); however, more non-pregnant
individuals could not have their COVID-19 severity determined (19.0%
vs. 10.0%). Conclusions: Medication use is generally low in
pregnancies with COVID-19, compared to pregnancies without COVID-19 and
non-pregnant individuals with COVID-19. Interpretation of medication
utilization patterns is challenging due to changing treatment and
prevention recommendations during the pandemic.