BJOG. 2024 Sep 16. doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.17949. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Assessment of COVID-19 vaccine safety in pregnancy using population-based data.
DESIGN: Matched case-control study nested in a retrospective cohort.
SETTING: April 2021-March 2022, England.
POPULATION OR SAMPLE: All pregnant individuals aged between 18 and 50 years with valid health records.
METHODS: Individuals identified from the national Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS) had their records linked to hospital admission, national COVID-19 vaccine and COVID-19 testing databases. Matching included participant’s age and estimated week of conception. We compared outcomes across multiple COVID-19 vaccine exposures using conditional multivariable logistic regression, adjusting for demographic and health characteristics.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Adverse pregnancy, maternal and neonatal outcomes.
RESULTS: 514 013 individuals were included. We found lower odds of giving birth to a baby who was low birthweight (aOR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.79-0.93), preterm (aOR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.85-0.92) or who had an Apgar score < 7 at 5 min of age (aOR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.80-0.98) for individuals who received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy. The odds of admission to intensive care unit during pregnancy were lower in those vaccinated (aOR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.76-0.95). There was no association between vaccination in pregnancy and stillbirth, neonatal death, perinatal death and maternal venous thromboembolism in pregnancy.
CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 vaccines are safe to use in pregnancy. Our findings generated important information to communicate to pregnant individuals and health professionals to support COVID-19 maternal vaccination programmes.
PMID:39279662 | DOI:10.1111/1471-0528.17949
