Lee Health holds first Research Day, including COVID-19 study

Reporter: Amy Oshier
Published: Updated:

Five years after the start of COVID-19 in the U.S., doctors are still uncovering its impacts.

Lee Health held its first-ever Research Day, showcasing findings from a team of doctors, including a study on the effects of COVID-19 on pregnant women.

“It’s like a science fair for doctors,” said Dr. Elvin Mendez, the organizer of Research Day. “There’s always been this wanting of highlighting everything that’s being done in our institution for almost 30 years.”

The event featured 38 presentations, including scientific studies and published research, all found within the local health system setting.

Drs. Cherrie Morris and William Liu presented their research on the impact of COVID-19, specifically the Delta variant, on pregnant women.

“We were seeing more babies that were born smaller,” said Dr. William Liu, a neonatologist at Lee Health. “When Dr. Morris came to me she said, ‘Are you seeing more problems in the NICU? Because we’re seeing a lot more morbidity [and] sicker moms.’ And I said, that’s very interesting.”

Dr. Cherrie Morris, an OB-GYN at Lee Health, added, “Those patients had worsening maternal conditions, and they were sicker with Delta.”

Their research examined 173 pregnant women diagnosed with COVID-19 from January 2020 to November 2021. These women required more medical help, had higher rates of C-sections, worsening maternal conditions and more preterm births.

Babies tested normally after birth, but the studies also revealed that Delta pregnancies resulted in more stillbirths compared to pre-COVID rates, indicating the virus’s impact.

“There probably wasn’t a direct effect of COVID on the baby,” said Morris. “But there was something going on with Mom, and we believe that there was a placental insufficiency [that] played a role in that.”

The published studies are now part of a global knowledge collective, putting local research on a worldwide stage.

During the Delta surge, several studies across the country found a higher rate of negative impacts, especially stillbirths, likely because the Delta variant made people sicker.

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