A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Analysis of Viral SARI in Pregnant Women in Southern Brazil

Abstract

Pregnant women (PW) are at a higher risk of diseases and hospitalization from viral respiratory infections, particularly influenza and SARS-CoV-2, due to cardiopulmonary and immunological changes. This study assessed the impact of viral respiratory infections on PW hospitalized with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a cross-sectional study with 42 PW and 85 non-pregnant women (NPW) admitted with SARI to two tertiary hospitals between January 2015 and December 2019. The rates of virus prevalence, SARI hospitalization, length of hospital stay, oxygen supplementation, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and death were comparable between PW and NPW. A multivariate analysis showed that PW had a higher rate of viral SARI hospitalizations (OR = 2.37; 95% CI = 1.02–5.48) as compared to NPW, with the influenza virus being the most prevalent (aOR = 7.58; 95% CI = 1.53–37.66). The length of hospital stays (aOR = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.73–0.95) and admissions to the ICU (aOR = 0.028; 95% CI = 0.004–0.25) were lower in PW as compared to hospitalized NPW. The influenza virus had a greater impact on the frequency of SARI in the group of PW, and these had a better outcome than NPW due to the earlier antiviral treatment they received.