Changes in Health Behaviour and Emotional Well-Being of Pregnant Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Latvia
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Date
2022-02-01
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Abstract
Pregnancy is a vulnerable period of life for changes in physical and mental health, which could be exacerbated by COVID-19. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on health behaviour and emotional well-being among pregnant women in Latvia. The cross-sectional study included 269 women: pregnant women in the third trimester and women until the 7th day post-partum. The study was conducted between July and October 2020, performed by a trained interviewer. Information regarding demographic, anthropometric data, self-assessment of changes in nutritional habits, daily physical activities, and emotional well-being due to the COVID-19 pandemic was collected. 31.6% reported cooking at home more often and only 10.4% reported eating more often and/or larger portions, 23.2% were going on walks outdoors more often, 32.9% were feeling anxious, insecure about health of themselves and relatives, and 24.8% were lacking communication with friends and family. Latvian women were emotionally more affected than other nationalities (p = 0.015). Overall, women 30+ years of age were more often affected then women aged up to 30 years (p = 0.014). These results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic had notable impact on health behaviour and emotional well-being in pregnant women in Latvia, especially on women 30+ years of age, who may need more careful counselling.
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Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Roberta Rezgale et al., published by Sciendo.
Keywords
diet, emotional response, physical activity, post-partum, pregnancy, 5.1 Psychology, 3.2 Clinical medicine, 1.1. Scientific article indexed in Web of Science and/or Scopus database, General, SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Citation
Rezgale, R, Cauce, V, Bule, V, Piskurjova, A & Meija, L 2022, 'Changes in Health Behaviour and Emotional Well-Being of Pregnant Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Latvia', Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, Section B: Natural, Exact, and Applied Sciences, vol. 76, no. 1, pp. 30-35. https://doi.org/10.2478/prolas-2022-0005