Background In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, drastic measures for social distancing have been introduced also in Italy, likely with a substantial impact in delicate conditions like pregnancy and puerperium. The study aimed to investigate the changes in lifestyle, access to health services, and mental wellbeing during the first Italian lockdown in a sample of Italian pregnant women and new mothers. Methods We carried out a web-based survey to evaluate how pregnant women and new mothers were coping with the lockdown. We collected data about healthy habits (physical exercise and dietary habits), access to health services (care access, delivery and obstetric care, neonatal care, and breastfeeding), and mental wellbeing (psychological well-being and emotive support). Descriptive analysis was performed for both groups of participants, whereas a Poisson analysis was used to measure the association between some structural variables (age, education, socio-economic data, partner support, contact, free time, previous children, and pregnancy trimester) and anxiety or depression, difficulties in healthy eating and reduction in physical activity after lockdown started. Chi2 and Adjusted Prevalence Ratios were estimated only for pregnant women. Results We included 739 respondents (response rate 85.8 %), 600 were pregnant (81.2 %), and 139 (18.8 %) had delivered during lockdown (new mothers). We found a high score for anxiety and depression in 62.8 % of pregnant women and 61.9 % of new mothers. During the lockdown, 61.8 % of pregnant women reduced their physical exercise, and 44.3 % reported eating in a healthier way. 94.0 % of new mothers reported to have breastfed their babies during the hospital stay. Regarding the perceived impact of restrictive measures on breastfeeding, no impact was reported by 56.1 % of new mothers, whereas a negative one by 36.7 %. Conclusions The high prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in pregnant women and new mothers should be a public health issue. Clinicians might also recommend and encourage “home” physical exercise. On the other hand, about half of the sample improved their approach towards healthy eating and a very high breastfeeding rate was reported soon after birth: these data are an interesting starting point to develop new strategies for public health.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemics, drastic measures for social distancing have been introduced also in Italy. The purpose of this study was to describe some aspects of lifestyle, access to health services, and mental wellness of Italian pregnant women and new-mothers during the lockdown. We carried out a web-based survey to assess how pregnant women and new-mothers were coping with the lockdown. Expected outcomes were categorized in different analysis domains: psychological well-being and support, physical exercise, dietary habits, access to care, delivery and obstetric care, neonatal care and breastfeeding.We included 742 respondents (response rate 86.2%), 603 were pregnant (81.3%) and 139 (18.7%) had delivered during lockdown. We found a high score for anxiety and depression in 62.7% of pregnant women and 61.9% of new-mothers. During the lockdown, 61.9% of pregnant women reduced their physical exercise, and 79.8% reported to eat in a healthier way. 94.2% of new-mothers reported to have breastfed their babies during hospital staying. Regarding the impact of restrictive measures on breastfeeding, no impact was reported by 56.1% of new-mothers, a negative impact by 36.7%.The higher prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in pregnant women and new-mothers should be a public health issue. Clinicians might also consider to recommend and encourage “home” physical exercise. On the other hand, most women improved their approach towards healthy eating during the lockdown and a very high breastfeeding rate was reported soon after birth: these data are an interesting starting point to develop new strategies for public health.
Background 5A’s counselling is recommended for screening and treating patients with smoking addiction. The emergency department (ED) setting might be a suitable environment for conducting interventions for smoking cessation. The present study aims to determine the feasibility and effectiveness on smoking cessation of 5A’s counselling administered to ED patients by nurses. Methods Parallel group randomized trial assessing 5A’s counselling for smoking cessation vs. usual care at a University Hospital in the North of Italy. The primary end-point was prevalence of tobacco-free patients. The secondary outcomes at 6- and 12-month follow-up were (i) consecutive past 30-day smoking abstinence; (ii) past 7-day 50%, or more, decrease in daily tobacco consumption over baseline; and (iii) number of attempts to quit smoking. Results A total of 480 patients were randomized to intervention (n = 262) or usual care (n = 218). Intention to treat analysis displayed no differences in primary and secondary outcomes between groups. A slight but not statistically significant enhancement in cessation was recorded in the intervention group [relative risk (RR) = 1.04, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.58–1.87] at 6 months, whereas a reversed observation at 12 months (RR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.50–1.47). Similar results were obtained for the secondary outcomes. Per protocol analysis increased the size of the results. Of the 126 smokers receiving counselling, 18 were visited and treated at the local smoking cessation centre, with 12 of them successfully completing the treatment. Conclusion The results of this study indicate that the ED is not a suited environment for 5A’s counselling.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.