Pregnant women may be at higher risk from the flu this season, but it appears to have more to do with falling vaccination rates than with the virus itself.
Dr. Michelle Barron, senior director of infection prevention and control at UCHealth, said about half of the system’s female patients between the ages of 18 and 44 have been pregnant so far this year. During the 2019-2020 flu season — the last normal one before the pandemic — only about 17% were, which is more typical, she said.
“Seventeen percent to 50% is a huge jump, based on historically what we’ve seen,” she said.
Preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also shows a disproportionate share of hospitalized patients of childbearing age were pregnant. The CDC defines patients with childbearing potential as girls and women ages 15 to 49, and has found about 40% of those hospitalized in that group were pregnant at the time they got sick.