Children and COVID-19 Research Library

Several studies have reported the susceptibility of pregnant women to emotional instability and stress. Thus, pregnancy may be a risk factor that could deepen the already negative effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze longitudinally the psychopathological consequences of the pandemic in pregnant women, and to explore differences with non-pregnant women. The participants in this study were 102 pregnant women, and a control group of 102 non-pregnant women (most of them reported having university studies and little financial impact from the pandemic). 

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), resulting from infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), can affect pregnant women. Their newborns are at a higher risk of prematurity and early separation from their mothers, who may subsequently require intensive care for their own health. Although neonates born of mothers infected with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy are seemingly vulnerable to infection, studies have found that they were not at a high risk for severe infection and were very rarely affected by COVID-19. The presence of virus by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has been reported in newborns before H 12 of life. In addition, antiviral immunoglobulin M has been detected in newborns at birth, suggesting that mother-to-infant viral transmission may occur. To date, however, only one case of vertical transmission has been clearly demonstrated. In several cases of early neonatal infection, postnatal contamination cannot be excluded. Moreover, only one case report found that the virus could pass from mother to infant through the mother’s breast milk.

This study aims to examine pregnancy and birth planning during COVID-19 and the effects of a tele- education offered to pregnant women for this planning process on prenatal distress and pregnancy-related anxiety. The population of this quasi-experimental study was composed of pregnant women who applied for the antenatal education class of a public hospital in the east of Turkey during their past prenatal follow-ups and wrote their contact details in the registration book to participate in group trainings. The sample of the study consisted of a total of 96 pregnant women, including 48 in the experiment and 48 in the control groups, who were selected using power analysis and non-probability random sampling method.

Prenatal micronutrients in pregnant women’s diets, including supplements, have an essential role in fetal brain development and may reduce the risk of mental disorders in offspring. Maternal dietary supplementation of nutrients is a benign and inexpensive intervention in pregnancy to prevent life‐long disability from mental illness.

This study was aimed to compare maternal and pregnancy outcomes of symptomatic and asymptomatic pregnant women with novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).