Obstetrics and Gynecology Unit, Department of Translational Medicine, University of Eastern Piedmont, Via Solaroli 17, 28100, Novara, Italy.
Division of Pediatric, Department of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy.
BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2021 Jul 1;21(1):473. doi: 10.1186/s12884-021-03904-4.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, drastic measures for social distancing have been introduced also in Italy, likely with a substantial impact in delicate conditions like pregnancy and puerperium. The study aimed to investigate the changes in lifestyle, access to health services, and mental wellbeing during the first Italian lockdown in a sample of Italian pregnant women and new mothers.
We carried out a web-based survey to evaluate how pregnant women and new mothers were coping with the lockdown. We collected data about healthy habits (physical exercise and dietary habits), access to health services (care access, delivery and obstetric care, neonatal care, and breastfeeding), and mental wellbeing (psychological well-being and emotive support). Descriptive analysis was performed for both groups of participants, whereas a Poisson analysis was used to measure the association between some structural variables (age, education, socio-economic data, partner support, contact, free time, previous children, and pregnancy trimester) and anxiety or depression, difficulties in healthy eating and reduction in physical activity after lockdown started. Chi2 and Adjusted Prevalence Ratios were estimated only for pregnant women.
We included 739 respondents (response rate 85.8 %), 600 were pregnant (81.2 %), and 139 (18.8 %) had delivered during lockdown (new mothers). We found a high score for anxiety and depression in 62.8 % of pregnant women and 61.9 % of new mothers. During the lockdown, 61.8 % of pregnant women reduced their physical exercise, and 44.3 % reported eating in a healthier way. 94.0 % of new mothers reported to have breastfed their babies during the hospital stay. Regarding the perceived impact of restrictive measures on breastfeeding, no impact was reported by 56.1 % of new mothers, whereas a negative one by 36.7 %.
The high prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in pregnant women and new mothers should be a public health issue. Clinicians might also recommend and encourage "home" physical exercise. On the other hand, about half of the sample improved their approach towards healthy eating and a very high breastfeeding rate was reported soon after birth: these data are an interesting starting point to develop new strategies for public health.
为应对 COVID-19 大流行，意大利也采取了严格的社会隔离措施，这可能对怀孕和产褥期等脆弱情况产生重大影响。本研究旨在调查在意大利首次封锁期间，意大利孕妇和新妈妈的生活方式、获得卫生服务和心理健康的变化。
我们进行了一项网络调查，以评估孕妇和新妈妈如何应对封锁。我们收集了有关健康习惯（体育锻炼和饮食习惯）、获得卫生服务（护理机会、分娩和产科护理、新生儿护理和母乳喂养）和心理健康（心理幸福感和情感支持）的数据。对两组参与者进行了描述性分析，而泊松分析用于衡量一些结构变量（年龄、教育、社会经济数据、伴侣支持、接触、空闲时间、以前的孩子和妊娠三分之一）与焦虑或抑郁、封锁后健康饮食困难和体力活动减少之间的关联。仅对孕妇进行卡方和调整后流行率比的估计。
我们纳入了 739 名受访者（回应率为 85.8%），其中 600 名孕妇（81.2%）和 139 名（18.8%）在封锁期间分娩（新妈妈）。我们发现 62.8%的孕妇和 61.9%的新妈妈焦虑和抑郁评分较高。在封锁期间，61.8%的孕妇减少了体育锻炼，44.3%的孕妇报告饮食更健康。94.0%的新妈妈报告在住院期间母乳喂养了婴儿。关于限制措施对母乳喂养的感知影响，56.1%的新妈妈报告没有影响，36.7%的新妈妈报告有负面影响。
孕妇和新妈妈中焦虑和抑郁症状的高患病率应该是一个公共卫生问题。临床医生也可能建议并鼓励进行“家庭”体育锻炼。另一方面，约一半的样本改善了他们对健康饮食的态度，并且在出生后不久就报告了非常高的母乳喂养率：这些数据是为公共卫生制定新策略的一个有趣起点。
