Can COVID have any effects on premature birth and its complication in winter

Kalpa Media House

A premature birth is a baby before 37 weeks completed in a pregnancy, this can both immediate short term as well as long term complication. The first complication is difficulty in serious breathing problems in preterm infants. These babies may have breathing problems through the first year of life and increased risk for asthma later. This is because of the fluids they have and as the lungs are not adequately developed to handle. There can be complications like bleeding inside the brain or a problem in maintaining the blood pressure. The long term problem could be development in the brain of the baby, both the learning ability and some babies do have Retinopathy of Prematurity which is the problem in development of the eyes.

Early symptoms could be; experiencing the pain in lower abdomen, if it appears frequently and there is an increase, so it can be one of the main symptom. Pregnant women may experience contraction and if it goes on increasing, this can be decrease by the medication or if it doesn’t then the woman can feel in her inner thighs and lower back. The other thing could be leaking of water discharge through vagina or it could have blood discharge which is known as “show”. During the routine check-up, if it is found that service of nicamboo is shorter  than 2.5 cm where it is called serious scan and the woman will have the treatment either through hormonal supplements or stitch in nacumto.
Whenever the pregnant woman comes for a check-up we first see the history, we see if there is an pre-term labor prior or a spontaneous risk. The other is See your doctor early and regularly in your pregnancy for prenatal care. Take care of any health problems, like diabetes, high blood pressure or depression.Don’t smoke, drink or use illegal drugs. Eat a diet that includes a variety of healthy foods.

In terms of COVID-19 pandemic, it is not only the pregnant women but also the care givers around her should take care of themselves. It is been observed that women having preterm labor, if facing flue like illness or she already having risk factors like bronchitis, diabetes or having hypertensive condition, pneumonia or any other mild illness like cough and anosmia, tiredness, fever and mild shortness of breath. Symptomatic COVID-19 was observed to be present in over half of iatrogenic preterm deliveries, but only a fifth of spontaneous preterm births. Both PROM and preterm premature rupture of the membranes were found to be increased in the exposed group as compared to the unexposed group.
It may not be totally attributed to seasonal variations but certain factors could be contributory like the flue or common cold in winter season, this will make pregnant woman little more cautious as it may trigger during pregnancy and these inflammatory response can trigger the pre-term labor. The other problem can be hypertensive disorder during pregnancy, it is found to be more in the winter season. The incidence of premature births can be influenced by variations of specific weather factors, especially during the weeks characterized by large fluctuations in temperature.

Author: Consultant Obstetrics & Gynecology
Apollo Cradle & Children’s Hospital -Bangalore

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