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A new survey of more than 4,000 pregnant women hospitalized in the United Kingdom with COVID-19 during the first 18 months of the pandemic shows severe illness was linked to poor birth outcomes, including pre-labor caesarean birth, very or extreme preterm birth, stillborn birth, and the need for admission to a neonatal unit. A smaller study in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reported a similar impact. In the UK study, women who were 30 or older, obese, mixed ethnicity, or diagnosed with gestational diabetes were more likely to suffer from an increased risk of poor pregnancy outcomes. (Soucheray, 2/24)

A seroepidemiologic survey of 7,010 people in Gauteng province, South Africa, before the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant outcompeted the Delta strain shows that 80% of those older than 50 years had antibodies against the virus, with most seropositivity likely generated by previous infection. In the study, published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), South African researchers analyzed dried-blood samples from participants from 3,047 households from Oct 22 to Dec 9, 2021. They looked for anti–SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies and assessed COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths and excess deaths through Jan 12, 2022. Omicron was first identified in the region on Nov 25, 2021, but didn't become dominant until December. (2/24)

Young people between the ages of 12-20 have reported several cases of a multi-system inflammatory syndrome, otherwise known as MIS-C, where the immune system goes on overdrive after being vaccinated for COVID-19, according to a recent Lancet report. The report noted MIS-C is a rare condition that can happen two to six weeks after COVID-19 infection with patients complaining of fever and showing signs and symptoms of multi-organ involvement with systemic inflammation. "Patients with MIS-C usually present with persistent fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, skin rash, mucocutaneous lesions and, in severe cases, with hypotension and shock," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on their website. (Sudhakar, 2/24)

Vegetarians could have a lower risk of developing cancer compared with meat eaters, according to a study. Compared with regular meat eaters, those who consume small amounts of meat have a 2% lower risk of cancer, while pescatarians — who eat fish and vegetables — have a 10% reduced risk and vegetarians are 14% less likely to develop cancer. Experts said that people who do not eat a lot of meat had a 9% lower risk of developing bowel cancer compared with “regular” meat eaters. (2/25)

Mortality rates among children born with congenital Zika syndrome up to 3 years of age were more than 11 times higher than those without Zika, researchers reported today in the New England Journal of Medicine. In the retrospective, population-based cohort study, researchers from Brazil and the United Kingdom examined all singleton live births in Brazil from 2015 through 2018, linking live birth records with the Public Health Event Record, which contains information about all recorded suspected cases of microcephaly associated with congenital Zika infection, and the Mortality Information System. They used Cox proportional hazard models to estimate mortality rates and mortality rate ratios for children born with and without Zika. (2/24)

A recent international survey reveals that 40% of patients who rely on prescription drugs suspect that supply chain disruptions will put them at risk for illness and death from ineffective, contaminated, counterfeit, expired, or improperly labeled or stored products. The Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Vision Study, by the workflow solutions company Zebra Technologies Corp., surveyed more than 3,500 patients and pharmaceutical executives to gauge perceptions of supply chain resilience, responsibility, and trust and identify ways to improve drug pipeline visibility and transparency. The report was released on Feb 8. (Van Beusekom, 2/24)

Sometimes, sabre rattling works. Three years ago, a U.K. parliamentary committee chair warned dozens of universities that they had six months to do a better job of reporting clinical trial results or they would face hearings. Now, a new analysis finds the gambit worked: Last year, 20 major universities disclosed 91% of their required trial results, up from just 29% shortly before the warnings were issued. Moreover, by last June, all 20 of the major universities had posted more than 70% of the required trial results on a European database and five of those universities had a perfect reporting rate of 100%, including the University of Birmingham, the University of Glasgow, and the Queen Mary University of London, according to the analysis published in Clinical Trials. (Silverman, 2/24)