Characteristics and Outcomes of Pregnant Women Hospitalized With Laboratory-Confirmed Respiratory Syncytial Virus Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract Background Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause severe disease among infants and older adults. Less is known about RSV among pregnant women. Methods To analyze hospitalizations with laboratory-confirmed RSV among women aged 18 to 49 years, we used data from the RSV Hospitalization Surveillance Network (RSV-NET), a multistate population-based surveillance system. Specifically, we compared characteristics and outcomes among (1) pregnant and nonpregnant women during the pre–COVID-19 pandemic period (2014–2018), (2) pregnant women with respiratory symptoms during the prepandemic and pandemic periods (2021–2023), and (3) pregnant women with and without respiratory symptoms in the pandemic period. Using multivariable logistic regression, we examined whether pregnancy was a risk factor for severe outcomes (intensive care unit admission or in-hospital death) among women aged 18 to 49 years who were hospitalized with RSV prepandemic. Results Prepandemic, 387 women aged 18 to 49 years were hospitalized with RSV. Of those, 350 (90.4%) had respiratory symptoms, among whom 33 (9.4%) were pregnant. Five (15.2%) pregnant women and 74 (23.3%) nonpregnant women were admitted to the intensive care unit; no pregnant women and 5 (1.6%) nonpregnant women died. Among 279 hospitalized pregnant women, 41 were identified prepandemic and 238 during the pandemic: 80.5% and 35.3% had respiratory symptoms, respectively (P < .001). Pregnant women were more likely to deliver during their RSV-associated hospitalization during the pandemic vs the prepandemic period (73.1% vs 43.9%, P < .001). Conclusions Few pregnant women had severe RSV disease, and pregnancy was not a risk factor for a severe outcome. More asymptomatic pregnant women were identified during the pandemic, likely due to changes in testing practices for RSV. Severe outcomes among pregnant women hospitalized with RSV infection were rare, and mild/asymptomatic infection was more frequently identified in pregnant women. In addition, more pregnant women delivered during their RSV-associated hospitalization during the COVID-19 pandemic vs before the pandemic.