1 in 10 pregnant "people" will develop long COVID (childbearing inclusiveness)

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Can men get preganant?
https://www.healthline.com/health/transg...t-pregnant

INTRO: Yes, it’s possible for men to become pregnant and give birth to children of their own. In fact, it’s probably a lot more common than you might think...

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New study finds roughly 1 in 10 pregnant people will develop long COVID
https://smfm2024.eventscribe.net/index.asp?launcher=1

PRESS RELEASE: While there is a growing body of research about the long-term effects of COVID in the general adult population, little research has been done on the long-term impacts on those who get COVID while pregnant.

In a new study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting™, researchers will unveil findings that suggest that approximately 1 in 10 people who have COVID during pregnancy will develop long COVID.

Researchers followed a group of individuals from 46 states plus Washington, D.C., who got COVID while pregnant to see whether they developed long COVID and, if so, what factors put people at greater risk. The pregnancy cohort is part of a larger study, the NIH RECOVER Initiative, that aims to learn more about the long-term effects of COVID in adults and children.

Of the 1,503 people in the pregnancy cohort, slightly more than half (51 percent) were fully vaccinated before contracting COVID; and the average age at infection was about 32 years old. The study looked at a person’s pre-existing conditions, socioeconomic status, and severity of COVID during pregnancy.

Researchers found that 9.3 percent of pregnant people developed long COVID when evaluated six months or more after their initial infection. The most common symptoms people reported included feeling worn out after even minor physical or mental activity, also known as post-exertional malaise, fatigue, and dizziness.

Researchers also found that pregnant people who were obese or suffered from depression or chronic anxiety as well as those who reported having difficulty paying their bills were all at greater risk of developing long COVID. People who had a more severe case of COVID and required oxygen while pregnant were also at higher risk of developing long COVID.

“The key takeaway for clinicians who are taking care of pregnant patients is that nearly 1 in 10 people who have COVID during pregnancy still have persistent symptoms six months later,” says the study’s lead author Torri D. Metz, MD, MS, a maternal-fetal medicine subspecialist and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City.

“The trimester of infection was not associated with the development of long COVID, so it did not seem to matter when in their pregnancy people were infected.”

Researchers also compared their findings to the larger NIH RECOVER-Adult cohort findings, which includes non-pregnant people, and discovered that the rate of long COVID appeared to be lower in pregnant people than in non-pregnant adults. “That could be due to a number of reasons that are worth investigating in the future,” notes Metz.

An important next step and one that is already in progress, say researchers, is to look at the outcomes of the infants of pregnant people who developed long COVID.

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A third of trans masculine individuals on testosterone ovulate
Amsterdam University Medical Center

PRESS RELEASE: "Trans masculine people are people born female but do not identify as such, for example they feel male, gender fluid or non-binary. Our examination of their ovarian tissue shows that 33% of them show signs of recent ovulation, despite being on testosterone and no longer menstruating," says Joyce Asseler, PhD candidate at Amsterdam UMC.

Trans masculine people often use hormone treatment with testosterone to masculinize physically. This hormone usually stops them from menstruating. In that case, it is often assumed that ovulation does not take place.

Physician-researcher Joyce Asseler and gynecologist Norah van Mello examined the ovarian tissue of transgender people who had their ovaries removed as part of their gender-affirming treatment. They had all used testosterone for at least 1 year prior to and at the time of the procedure.

Their analysis shows that 17 of the 52 study participants (33%) show signs of recent ovulation in the ovarian tissue. The results have been published in Cell Reports Medicine.

"Testosterone apparently has a heterogenous effect on ovarian tissue. We don't know why one person ovulates and another person doesn't. In any case, we cannot explain this difference by the type of testosterone, or how long someone has been taking testosterone," says Asseler.

People who ovulate can, in theory, also get pregnant. This also applies to these trans people. For them, it is therefore necessary to use contraceptives if they are sexually active with someone who produces sperm cells.

"The physical and mental consequences of an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy are enormous. It is important that trans masculine people and their healthcare providers are aware of this risk and act accordingly. Furthermore, this discovery can contribute to better care for trans masculine people who experience abdominal cramping," concludes Asseler.