A MULTINATIONAL STUDY of stillbirths and deaths of newborns has backed up findings made by Irish experts earlier in the pandemic. 

The study, published in the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, examined 68 cases of Covid-19 placentitis from 12 countries including Ireland. 

The study said that to the best of the knowledge of the authors, all mothers involved were unvaccinated. 

Covid placentitis, or SARS-CoV-2 placentitis, is an infection of the placenta which occurs in some pregnant women who have tested positive for Covid-19.

It is a rare condition that has caused foetal distress and stillbirth in a number of women who had Covid-19.

It occurs within seven to 21 days of the infection

The new study included analysis from a group of 44 perinatal specialists from 12 countries including Ireland.

The findings looked at 64 stillborns and four newborn deaths where the placentas tested positive for Covid-19 after delivery from mothers with the disease.  

The study found that all 68 placentas had increased fibrin deposition and villous trophoblast necrosis. 66 had chronic histiocytic intervillositis. 

These three issues comprise Covid-19 placentitis. 

It concluded that the pathology abnormalities making up Covid placentitis cause “widespread and severe placental destruction”.

In these cases, the study said that stillbirths and neonatal deaths likely result directly from placental insufficiency and fetal hypoxic-ischemic injury – the brain not receiving enough oxygen or blood flow.

Recent research said that four stillbirths and the deaths of two newborns attributed to Covid-19 placentitis occurred in Ireland between October and December 2021. 

Four stillbirths occurred in women whose pregnancies were beyond 20 weeks. Two neonatal deaths, when a baby dies in the first 28 days of life, were also reported.

None of the mothers in question were vaccinated against Covid-19, according to research led by experts at CUH’s Department of Pathology.

Six stillbirths connected to Covid placentitis, as well as one foetal death at 20 weeks’ gestation, were reported in Ireland from December 2020 to March 2021 during the third wave of the pandemic.

The Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Irish Medicines in Pregnancy Service at the Rotunda Hospital, the National Immunisation Advisory Committee at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, and the National Women and Infants Health Programme have compiled information for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding about the Covid-19 vaccine.