The main insidiousness of the coronavirus is that its consequences affect all systems of the human body, including the reproductive one. According to some statistics, women tolerate COVID-19 more easily than men (1), but the potential impact of the virus on reproductive health should not be underestimated. That is why, if a woman decides to become pregnant after suffering a coronavirus (or becomes infected during pregnancy), the doctor should be especially attentive to the patient and take into account the severity of the coronavirus, comorbidities and general condition after the illness.
How coronavirus will affect women’s health and pregnancy directly depends on the following factors:
- what drugs were used to treat the disease and what toxic effect they had on the body,
- how the illness progressed
- Was the woman in intensive care?
- whether comorbid chronic diseases worsened after the illness.
Which pregnant women are at risk after suffering COVID-19?
- Pregnant women over 35 with chronic diseases of the lungs, cardiovascular system, kidneys and liver, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, immunosuppression, obesity (body mass index> 40), diabetes mellitus and antiphospholipid syndrome.
- Women with complicated course (preeclampsia, eclampsia, HELLP-syndrome) of previous pregnancies. (2)
Pregnant women at risk need not only observation by an obstetrician-gynecologist. Consultations with a therapist and pulmonologist are also important, as well as regular examinations and tests (including ultrasound and fetal cardiotocography). All this is necessary to exclude the possible negative consequences of the disease.
How soon can pregnancy be planned?
Coronavirus affects both men’s and women’s health. After a disease in men, spermogram parameters decrease by about 10 times. In women, the AMH (anti-Müllerian hormone) index, which shows the reproductive potential (egg reserve), is significantly reduced. And if in the case of men everything is simpler – they produce new sperm every three months, then in women the AMH indicator is restored for a long time. (3) And if the patient is older than 35 years, then this indicator will not be restored to the initial levels. This means that the chances of getting pregnant are also reduced.
So if you or your partner still had a coronavirus, then you should not rush with such a responsible step as planning a pregnancy. And how long you need to wait – first of all, depends on the form in which the disease proceeded.
Doctors emphasize that today there is too little confirmed data or the results of some scientific studies, on the basis of which it would be possible to give accurate recommendations.
It is best to plan a pregnancy after suffering COVID-19 at least a month after recovery (and even then, provided that the disease was mild). The best solution would be to wait 2-3 months for the body of the expectant mother to fully recover, since pregnancy will require enough strength and health resources. In addition, it is worth remembering that in the treatment of coronavirus, drugs are often used that can adversely affect both the entire reproductive system of the mother and her unborn child, so it is important that by the time of pregnancy they are completely removed from the woman’s body.
With regard to the management of pregnancy in a woman who has experienced COVID-19 asymptomatically or with mild/moderate symptoms that did not require hospitalization, no specific recommendations are made in this regard. (one)
If a woman has been ill with a severe form of coronavirus or has even been connected to a ventilator, then it will take 3 to 6 months for her body to recover sufficiently. At the same time, a woman needs to be carefully monitored by a doctor, since the consequences of the disease can manifest themselves even after a long time after recovery.
If a woman’s pregnancy nevertheless happened earlier than the indicated dates, then in the vast majority of cases there is no danger to the child and the expectant mother. And even more so, the transferred coronavirus is not an indication for abortion.
Popular questions and answers
About what complications a future mother and her baby can have from a coronavirus, and how it affects pregnancy if the child’s father has been ill with a coronavirus, she told candidate of medical sciences, obstetrician-gynecologist, Dina Absalyamova.
The disease of coronavirus infection during pregnancy has its own characteristics: in some pregnant women, the course of the disease is milder than in non-pregnant women with the same amount of lung damage. Affects the natural immunodeficiency of pregnant women. But about 30% of pregnant women have a more severe course, pronounced changes in the lungs, lesions of other target organs: kidneys, liver, intestines, blood system. The percentage of preterm births in women with coronavirus infection has increased. Also, due to maternal hypoxia (lack of oxygen), fetal hypoxia also occurs, which leads to early delivery, more often to a caesarean section in the interests of the fetus. Intestinal damage during covid is manifested by diarrhea, up to 10-15 times a day, which leads to the loss of trace elements and vitamins in the mother’s body.
Is it dangerous if pregnancy occurs during an illness?
Sources of
- Adamyan L.V., Aznaurova Ya.B., Filippov O.S. COVID-19 and women’s health. reproduction problems. 2020; 26(2):6-17. URL: https://www.mediasphera.ru/issues/problemy-reproduktsii/2020/4/downloads/ru/1102572172020041006
- Ministry of Health of the Federation. Interim guidelines “Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19)”. Version 4 (05.07.2020/46837/1). URL: http://nasci.ru/?id=XNUMX&download=XNUMX
- Zhukovskaya S.V., Zhukovskaya S.V. (ml.). Assisted reproductive technologies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Reproductive Health”. Eastern Europe”, 2021. Volume 11, No. 1, p. 69. URL: https://recipe.by/wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/2021/03/YEl_1_2021_Reproduktivnoe-zdorove_Bel.pdf