First-of-its-Kind Study Found Infants of Socially Vulnerable Mothers were at Highest Risk of COVID-19 Infection
BOSTON – At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, very little was known about SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Over the past year, more evidence has become available on how the virus is transmitted, who is at the greatest risk and best practices to prevent exposure. Yet questions still remain about how the virus impacts the health of pregnant women and newborns.
In a new study published in JAMA Network Open, physician-researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital reveal that, while mother-to-newborn transmission of the virus is rare, newborns of expectant mothers with COVID-19 can suffer indirect adverse health risks as a result of worsening maternal COVID-19 illness.