PRIORITY Registry

Newsletter Summer 2020

Research Update: National Registry Set Up During the COVID-19 Pandemic to Help Doctors Understand Risks Posed to Pregnant Women and Newborns

The Pregnancy Coronavirus Outcomes Registry (PRIORITY) is a nationwide registry launched in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic to address questions about health risks specifically relevant to pregnant or recently pregnant women and their newborns.

PRIORITY is a joint collaboration between the UCLA and UCSF Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Yalda Afshar, principal investigator at UCLA, says “PRIORITY is focused on building a national infrastructure for collecting clinically relevant data and bio-specimens from pregnant women (and those immediately postpartum) to answer questions for our patients while simultaneously understanding the biology to work towards mechanistic understanding. What we learn through this database allows us to better screen, treat and guide interventions for women and children.” Additionally, Dr. Grace Aldrovani, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, and Dr. Deborah Krakow, Chair of OBGYN, serve as members of the PRIORITY steering committee.

PRIORITY’s goal is to evaluate the presentation, disease course, and clinical outcomes for pregnant women infected with CoVID-19. Outcomes will focus on the clinical course of disease in the patient during and after her pregnancy including all key obstetric outcomes with biological rationale and experimentation. 

To date there are over 1,200 participants from across the country representing diverse racial and ethnic groups. The work of PRIORITY is in collaboration with the Reproductive Health Equity and Birth Justice Core that aims to understand how racism and other factors impact pregnant people with CoVID-19.