New research from our collaborative and lead by Dr. Celestina Barbosa-Leiker has found a link between increased pregnancy stress and the pandemic.
“Key Takeaways
- Many pregnant and postpartum women are engaging in unhealthy behaviors to cope with the stress of the pandemic—including drugs and alcohol.
- Right now, marijuana is the number one substance for which women seek treatment during pregnancy.
- The rise of telemedicine has created additional touchpoints for substance use treatment and prenatal care.”
““Pregnant women are really stressed about contracting COVID-19,” said lead author Celestina Barbosa-Leiker, vice chancellor for research at WSU Health Sciences Spokane. “They have a lot of questions for their health care providers. There’s a lot of we don’t know yet, which is understandable, but it’s especially stressful for the moms.””
“In the study, 52% of pregnant women and 49% of postpartum women worried about their babies contracting COVID-19, and 46% had sought extra information about COVID-19 protocols from the hospital where they had planned to deliver, or had delivered, their babies.”
You can read the full research article Here