Impact of the pandemic by COVID-19 on mental health and quality of life of high-risk pregnant women treated at HUPAA/UFAL
Pandemic. mental health. Quality of life.
Introduction: The pandemic caused by the new coronavirus (COVID-19) generated several health and social isolation measures promoted by the authorities in several countries. Pregnant women were included as the population group most susceptible to COVID-19 due to several aspects, causing in this group a greater rigidity in social distancing, promoting even more fear and anxiety in a notoriously more fragile period of women's lives. It is known that the high prevalence of perinatal depression is influenced by risk factors, including increased somatic symptoms, exposure to intimate partner violence, little social support and unwanted pregnancy, and its prevalence is estimated at 19 to 25% in underdeveloped or developing countries. Objective: to evaluate the impact of the pandemic by COVID-19 on the mental health of high-risk postpartum pregnancy patients attended at the high-risk obstetrics service of the Professor Alberto Antunes University Hospital (HUPAA/UFAL), measuring the frequency of mental disorders and suicidal ideation and scoring the scores of different quality of life domains. Methodology: Two standardized and validated questionnaires were applied, the SF-36 and the MINI version 7.0.2, in addition to a form developed exclusively for this research to investigate socioeconomic aspects in voluntary postpartum patients up to 48 hours postpartum hospitalized in the obstetrics service of HUPAA/UFAL. Seventy-three puerperum were invited for research, 37 signed the TCLE, one of which removed the term, with an initial sample of 36 patients. After re-evaluation of inclusion criteria, 02 patients were removed from the sample, finishing the sample in 34 individuals. Initial results: In the initial analyses, a prevalence of 23.5% of mental disorders was identified in the interviewed patients, with major depression predominated as the main diagnosis. Suicidal ideation was identified in 11.8% of the sample. Regarding quality of life scores, there was a statistically significant association between patients with some mental disorder with lower scores in the various domains of the SF-36. The analyses performed so far show that they are in accordance with the literature.