Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Pregnant and Postpartum Women

The COVID-19 pandemic is associated with heightened psychological stress in the general adult population, with women and unpaid caregivers reporting disproportionate increases in anxiety and depression. Due to the established effects of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders on the development of offspring in utero, the impact on pregnant and postpartum women is of particular concern.

Researchers including UPMC’s Elizabeth Krans, MD, MSc, recently published a study characterizing the coping styles associated with adverse psychosocial outcomes in perinatal women during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Utilizing a large, multicenter sample of pregnant and postpartum women in the U.S. (4,412), authors use a data-driven approach to:

• Classify behavioral phenotypes of coping strategies.
• Isolate associations between coping phenotypes and demographic characteristics.
• Identify coping phenotypes associated with risk and resiliency for adverse health outcomes.

Researchers identified six factors of coping strategies consisting of self-care, vegging out, avoiding media/news, social support, health care utilization, and substance use.

From those factors, four profiles were developed to identify maternal behavioral coping phenotypes.

Profile 1 – Low-coping is characterized by moderately avoiding media/news and relatively lower use of other coping strategies. This profile included 41% of the sample in pregnant women and 39% of the sample in postpartum women.

Profile 2 – Passive-coping is characterized by high levels of vegging out and lower levels of self-care and social support. This profile accounted for 33% of the sample in pregnant women and 41% of the sample in postpartum women.

Profile 3 – Active-coping is characterized by high levels of self-care, social support, avoiding media/news, and low levels of vegging out. This profile consisted of 12% of the sample in both pregnant and postpartum women.

Profile 4 – High-coping is characterized by high levels of self-care, social support, and vegging out, moderately increased health care utilization, and moderately elevated substance use in postpartum women only. This profile included 13% of the sample in pregnant women and 8% of the sample in postpartum women.

The behavioral coping phenotypes researchers identified highlight potential risk and protective factors for perinatal women, which is critical in helping to identify and treat women most at risk for experiencing mood and anxiety disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health crises.

Learn more and read the full study here.

Reference

Werchan DM, Hendrix CL, Ablow JC, et al. Behavioral coping phenotypes and associated psychosocial outcomes of pregnant and postpartum women during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sci Rep. 2022;12(1):1209. Published 2022 Jan 24. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-05299-4