The psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pregnant women

This work was supported by the Frontier Project "ACTS229UGR18" of the Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, Business and University of the Junta de Andalucia, cosupported by funds/European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) - a way to build Europe. Beside, Mr. Jose Antonio PuertasGonzalez has been awarded with an individual research grant (Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, FPU program, reference number 18/00617) .The aim was to examine the psychological effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on pregnant women, as well as the factors influencing these effects. The study design was cross-sectional and the participants were 200 pregnant women. The first group called the Pandemic Group (PG) included 100 women who were evaluated with psychological assessment instruments during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second group titled Pre-Pandemic Group (PPG) consisted of 100 women who were evaluated prior to the pandemic. Perceived stress, prenatal concerns and psychopathological symptoms were evaluated and compared. Pandemic Group scored significantly higher than Pre-Pandemic Group in the depression dimension of the SCL-90, in the phobic anxiety dimension, and in the Perceived Stress Scale. In addition, insomnia, along with having recently suffered the loss of a loved one explained 25% of the score variance in the depression dimension of the SCL-90. Insomnia also explained 13% of the variance of the results found in the Perceived Stress Scale. The fear of contagion by COVID-19 increased the scores obtained in the phobic anxiety dimension, explaining 11% of the variance. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic could produce an increase in psychopathological symptomatology and stress, which can lead to negatively affecting pregnant women's mental health.Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, Business ACTS229UGR18Junta de AndaluciaEuropean CommissionSpanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, FPU program 18/0061

Giving birth during a pandemic: From elation to psychopathology

Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, Business and University of the Junta de Andalucia, Grant/Award Number: A-CTS-229-UGR18; European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Grant/Award Number: 18/00617Objective: To compare the postpartum psychopathological symptoms of women who gave birth before the pandemic with those who gave birth during the pandemic. Methods: A total of 212 women participated in the study, of which 96 gave birth before the pandemic and 116 during the pandemic. Psychopathological symptoms, postpartum depression, perceived stress, and resilience were evaluated. Results: Women who gave birth during the pandemic had higher scores on somatization, obsessions and compulsions, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, and psychoticism. In addition, perceived stress was the common predictor of an increase in these symptoms. Conclusion: Postpartum is a complicated period in a woman's life. Many psychological adaptations take place and women may be subject to psychological alterations during this period. In addition, women who gave birth during the COVID-19 crisis may show greater psychological vulnerability, due to the specific situation experienced during the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic may have played a role in the increase in psychopathological symptoms after childbirth. Detecting possible symptoms postpartum plays a crucial role, because it allows intervening and preventing the development of psychopathologies.Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, Business and University of the Junta de Andalucia A-CTS-229-UGR18European CommissionSpanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities 18/0061

Stress and Psychopathology Reduction in Pregnant Women through Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy during COVID-19: A Feasibility Study

Background: The global pandemic has affected the psychological health of the population, including pregnant women. Due to the difficulty of offering conventional therapies to reduce stress in this population, studies are needed to show the effect of online therapies. Therefore, the objective was to test the effect of online cognitive behavioural therapy in pregnant women during the pandemic on the main variables of stress and psychopathology. Methods: The sample consisted of 16 pregnant women who participated in a weekly cognitive behavioural intervention for 8 weeks. Prenatal concerns, general stress, stress vulnerability, resilience and psychopathology were assessed. Results: The results show a reduction in prenatal concerns, perceived stress, stress vulnerability and psychopathology, as well as an increase in resilience. Conclusions: Online cognitive behavioural intervention may be effective in pregnant women, so it is important to conduct a randomised controlled trial to certify these findings.Frontier Project “A-CTS-229-UGR18” of the Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, Business and University of the Junta de AndalucíaEuropean Regional Development Fund (ERDF)Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, FPU program - 18/0061

How prenatal cortisol levels may differentially affect the neurodevelopment of boys and girls

Producción CientíficaBackground: Prenatal stress could have serious consequences on maternal and fetal health. In this sense, some studies have stated that maternal HCC during pregnancy could contribute to sex-specific effects on infant neurodevelopment, following the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Hypothesis. Aim: This study aimed to determine whether maternal hair cortisol concentration (HCC) during each trimester of pregnancy and postpartum could predict the neurodevelopmental outcomes of their 12-month-old offspring, with sex-specific differences considered. Study design: longitudinal. Subjects: The study involved 93 pregnant women and their babies. Outcome measure: Hair samples collected during each trimester and postpartum and The Bayley Scales for Infant Development III was used to assess the infants' abilities. Results: The results showed that maternal HCC during the first and second trimesters could predict language and motor abilities. However, when discriminated by sex, only females' cognitive, expressive language, and fine and gross motor skills were predicted by cortisol, not males. Conclusions: These findings support the idea that non-toxic levels of cortisol can positively influence infants' neurodevelopment

Can we influence the neurological development and hair cortisol concentration of offspring by reducing the stress of the mother during pregnancy? A randomized controlled trial

Producción CientíficaThe objective was to evaluate the effects of a stress management cognitive behavioural therapy followed during pregnancy on subsequent childhood on hair cortisol at birth and on neurodevelopment and Hair Cortisol Concentrations (HCC) at 6 months of age. The study sample included 48 pregnant women, divided into two groups: 24 women in the Therapy Group (TG) and 24 women who received standard pregnancy care (control group (CG); CG). To test the therapy efficacy, an evaluation of the HCC and psychological stress, psychopathological symptomatology and resilience was conducted before and after the treatment. The level of cortisol in their hair was obtained during pregnancy and that of their babies at birth. Six months after birth, a cortisol sample was taken from the hair and the babies' neurodevelopment was evaluated based on a Bayley-III test. The TG presented reductions in psychological stress and psychopathological symptomatology after treatment. On the other hand, the CG increased their cortisol concentrations between the pre and post intervention, remaining stable in the TG. Moreover, results showed that TG babies had lower cortisol concentrations at birth and obtained significantly higher cognitive and motor development scores at 6 months. These findings support that providing psychological care to pregnant women may not only have a benefit on these women's mental state, but may also benefit the neurodevelopment of their offspring.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, (programa FPU, referencia 18/00617

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio

Gestión del conocimiento. Perspectiva multidisciplinaria. Volumen 10

El libro “Gestión del Conocimiento. Perspectiva Multidisciplinaria”, Volumen 10, de la Colección Unión Global, es resultado de investigaciones. Los capítulos del libro, son resultados de investigaciones desarrolladas por sus autores. El libro es una publicación internacional, seriada, continua, arbitrada de acceso abierto a todas las áreas del conocimiento, que cuenta con el esfuerzo de investigadores de varios países del mundo, orientada a contribuir con procesos de gestión del conocimiento científico, tecnológico y humanístico que consoliden la transformación del conocimiento en diferentes escenarios, tanto organizacionales como universitarios, para el desarrollo de habilidades cognitivas del quehacer diario. La gestión del conocimiento es un camino para consolidar una plataforma en las empresas públicas o privadas, entidades educativas, organizaciones no gubernamentales, ya sea generando políticas para todas las jerarquías o un modelo de gestión para la administración, donde es fundamental articular el conocimiento, los trabajadores, directivos, el espacio de trabajo, hacia la creación de ambientes propicios para el desarrollo integral de las instituciones

4to. Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Sociedad. Memoria académica

Este volumen acoge la memoria académica de la Cuarta edición del Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Sociedad, CITIS 2017, desarrollado entre el 29 de noviembre y el 1 de diciembre de 2017 y organizado por la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana (UPS) en su sede de Guayaquil. El Congreso ofreció un espacio para la presentación, difusión e intercambio de importantes investigaciones nacionales e internacionales ante la comunidad universitaria que se dio cita en el encuentro. El uso de herramientas tecnológicas para la gestión de los trabajos de investigación como la plataforma Open Conference Systems y la web de presentación del Congreso http://citis.blog.ups.edu.ec/, hicieron de CITIS 2017 un verdadero referente entre los congresos que se desarrollaron en el país. La preocupación de nuestra Universidad, de presentar espacios que ayuden a generar nuevos y mejores cambios en la dimensión humana y social de nuestro entorno, hace que se persiga en cada edición del evento la presentación de trabajos con calidad creciente en cuanto a su producción científica. Quienes estuvimos al frente de la organización, dejamos plasmado en estas memorias académicas el intenso y prolífico trabajo de los días de realización del Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Sociedad al alcance de todos y todas

Influence of perinatal psychoendocrine factors on the offspring’s development

Tesis Univ. Granada.MICN/AEI 10.13039/501100011033, bajo el proyecto titulado “El papel del estrés perinatal en el temperamento, psicopatología y reactividad de la descendencia (CHILDSTRESS)” (PID PID2019- 110115GB-I0

Resilience, stress and anxiety in pregnancy before and throughout the pandemic: a structural equation modelling approach

The present study explored and compared the link between resilience and pregnancy-related stress, perceived stress, and anxiety, employing two structural equation models. One model focused on pregnant women before the outbreak of the pandemic, and the other on pregnancies throughout the pandemic. For this purpose, a total sample of 690 women during their pregnancy were collected: the Pre-Pandemic Group (P-PG) was composed of 341 pregnant women evaluated prior to the pandemic; and 349 pregnant women assessed at the time of the pandemic constituted the Pandemic Group (PG). The resilience, pregnancy-related stress, perceived stress, and anxiety symptomatology of the women were assessed. For both samples, resilience was found to lower levels of pregnancy-specific stress, as well as general perceived stress, and anxiety symptomatology. Furthermore, pregnancy-specific stress and perceived stress showed a covariance relationship and, that these, in turn, increased the anxiety. Moreover, the PG showed greater levels of pregnancy-specific stress, anxiety, somatisations, and obsessions-compulsions, while the P-PG presented higher perceived stress levels.CRUE-CSICSpringer Natur