A new study has found that the Delta variant-dominated COVID-19 waves were riskier for pregnancies than the subsequent Omicron waves. The new study published in The Lancet revealed that pregnant women who contracted the Delta variant were more likely to have preterm birth and maternal complications than those who were infected by the Omicron variant.
The researchers monitored 9,817 pregnant women in Scotland who had contracted COVID-19 for complications like stillbirths, neonatal infection, neonatal deaths and more. The study found that there were 4.3 stillbirths per 1,000 births from Omicron infections while the rate of Delta stillbirths stood at 20.3 per 1,000 births. The scientists also found that Omicron infections resulted in no neonatal deaths against 6.3 neonatal deaths per 1000 births. COVID-19 infections 28 days after birth were also much lower during the Omicron wave than the Delta wave – 1 case during the Omicron wave against 11 cases during the Delta wave.

“Emerging evidence suggests that Omicron is associated with lower risks of adverse outcomes than previous variants, particularly delta (B.1.617.2), among the general population. However, little is known about outcomes after Omicron infection in pregnancy, although there have been reports of less severe disease with the Omicron variant when compared with the Delta variant in a selected population of pregnant women attending prenatal care,” the scientists stated in the paper.
The study provides substantive evidence that the Omicron variant causes less severe COVID-19 illness in pregnant individuals despite being more infectious than the Delta variant.
Source:- CNBCTV18