MUMBAI: Pregnant women who got Covid during the second Delta wave had a higher incidence of preterm births and their newborns had more complications and NICU admissions than those affected in the first wave, a new study from an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) laboratory in Mumbai has revealed.
While 15% of newborns in the second wave group were born preterm (before 35 weeks), it was only 7.8% in the first-wave group. "The risk of birth asphyxia (failure to establish breathing at birth) and prematurity were 3.8 and 2.1 times higher in the second wave,'' said Dr Rahul Gajbhiye from ICMR's National Institute for Research in Reproductive and Child Health (NIRRCH), Parel. The severity in clinical profile in neonates may be attributed to the highly virulent strain B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant that caused the second wave, he added.
