Influence of COVID-19 on eating habits of pregnant women in Latvia

There is contradictory information regarding the influence of COVID-19 restrictions to the eating habits of pregnant women. Nutrition in pregnancy is of utmost importance for the health of the woman and the fetus during gestation and afterwards. The aim of the study was to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on nutrition during pregnancy An online survey was conducted from July to October 2020 as a part of an international multi-country study I-SHARE Survey in the time of COVID-19 and the state research project “Impact of COVID-19 on health care system and public health in Latvia; ways in preparing health sector for future epidemic” (VPP-COVID-2020/1-0011). Survey was carried out through an online link on the RSU webpage. Data were summarized and analyzed using MS Excel and IBM SPSS 26.0. 1173 Latvian inhabitants participated in the online survey. From 966 women 662 women were of reproductive age and 70 of them were pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemics. Answers related to nutrition during COVID-19 pandemic were analyzed comparing a group of pregnant women with a group of reproductive age women who were not pregnant. There was no statistical difference between these two groups regarding (1) worries about the amount of food in the household; (2) eating of preferred food by any of the household members; (3) eating of less food; (4) having household food stores ever completely empty and no way of getting more, and (5) increased consumption of foods of low nutritional value. However, women who were not pregnant increased food consumption during COVID-19 in comparison to pregnant women (51.4% vs 37.2%, p<0.05). COVID-19 restrictions influence the eating habits of many, including pregnant women. When developing the public health recommendations, it is of essential importance to make information regarding nutrition in pregnancy during COVID-19 restrictions available and accessible.