Self-Assessment Of Physical And Mental Health During The Sars-Cov-2 Pandemic In Latvian Pregnant Women

Objectives. Currently, there is no data available on the physical and mental health changes of pregnant women during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Latvia. The aim was to find out the self-assessment of a woman’s physical and mental health in the perinatal period in the context of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Latvia. Materials and methods. Study has been implemented within the framework of the Latvian Council of Sciences project Nr.lzp-2019/1-0335. This cross-sectional study included 34 pregnant women in the third trimester and 253 new mothers until 7th day post-partum in 8 Latvian health care institutions, who consented to participating in a personal interview from July to November in year 2020. Data were analyzed by IBM SPSS. Results. In 60.5% (n=170) of cases women denied the pandemic having impact on their physical activity, in 23.5 % (n=66) took more frequent walks, but in 18.5 % (n=52) reduced physical activity. Medium-intensity 30-minute physical exercises were performed daily or almost daily by 9.9% (n=28) of respondents, while 51.1% (n=145) performed them few times a year or not at all. 73.5% (n = 205) of respondents had a pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) of up to 25kg/m2, 26.5% (n = 74) of respondents of more than 25 kg/m2. Woman’s prepregnancy BMI was not statistically significant related to self-assessment of their physical and mental health (p> 0.05). In 55.7% (n=141) of cases women denied the pandemic having impact on their mental health, 32.4% (n=82) had health fears, 24.5% (n=62) lacked communication with others, 7.9% (n=19) were sad, and 16.6% (n=42) of women were afraid of the unknown. Conclusions. SARS-CoV-2 pandemic could be an additional subjective risk factor in the physical and mental wellbeing of pregnant women, which will need to be further researched to offer and adapt the support structures for maintaining these aspects of health.