Pregnancy and Postpartum Challenges During COVID-19 for African-African Women.
Article
Holness, Nola A, Barfield, Latisha, Burns, Vicki L et al. (2020). Pregnancy and Postpartum Challenges During COVID-19 for African-African Women.
. 31(2), 15-24.
Holness, Nola A, Barfield, Latisha, Burns, Vicki L et al. (2020). Pregnancy and Postpartum Challenges During COVID-19 for African-African Women.
. 31(2), 15-24.
The purpose of this article is to discern and examine causative factors that are likely to influence the higher consequences of health disparities experienced by pregnant and postpartum African-American women with COVID-19. Although understudied, pregnancy in the presence of COVID-19 increases the risk for illness severity. Data suggest that pregnant women with COVID-19 are more likely to be hospitalized, to be admitted to the intensive care unit, and to require life support. Similarly, COVID-19 poses significant challenges to maternal and obstetric care during the postpartum recovery period. African- American women bear a disproportionately higher morbidity and mortality burden for diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. Pre-existing chronic health conditions may place pregnant and postpartum women at a higher risk for developing severe health consequences from COVID-19 before, during, and after delivery. In addition, social determinants of health are hypothesized to modulate the deleterious impact of COVID-19 among pregnant and postpartum African-American women.