Assessment of pandemic-related pregnancy stress from seven western countries using Rasch analyses.

Introduction: This study examined psychometric properties of the Pandemic-Related Pregnancy Stress Scale (PREPS) using a Rasch Model (RM) in a large sample of pregnant women from Germany, Israel, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the United States of America (USA).

Material And Methods: Rasch analyses were used to analyze a sample of 7185 pregnant women who completed the PREPS during the COVID-19 pandemic onset from April to August 2020. Psychological, sociodemographic, and obstetric factors were also collected and analyzed.

Using the PROMOTE Screener to Identify Psychosocial Risk Factors for Prenatal Substance Use.

Introduction: There is an urgent need to improve the identification of psychosocial vulnerabilities in clinical practice (eg, stress, unstable living conditions) and examine their contribution to prenatal substance use, especially for legal substances such as alcohol, tobacco, and recently, cannabis.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of 1842 patients who completed the PROMOTE screening instrument during their first prenatal visit to outpatient clinics of a New York State health system in 6/2019-11/2020. The PROMOTE includes 18 core items to assess psychosocial vulnerabilities including the NIDA Quick Screen assessing past year substance use.

Obsessive-compulsive symptom trajectories from pregnancy through the postpartum: examining longitudinal course and risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: The peripartum is a time of increased risk for the development or worsening of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms. Existing evidence suggests that OC symptoms commonly surge immediately postpartum followed by a gradual recovery. Yet how societal conditions, such as a widespread public health crisis, may affect this pattern remains unknown.

Proof of Concept of Telemedicine-Assisted Abdominal Ultrasound Examinations to Improve the Quality of Patient Care in Rural Areas.

(1) Unclear sonographic findings without adequate specialist expertise in abdominal ultrasound (AU) may harm patients in rural areas, due to overlooked diagnoses, unnecessary additional imaging (e.g., CT scan), and/or patient transport to referral expert centers.

Social Determinants of Health, Prenatal Maternal Stress, and Earlier Birth During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, pregnant women, especially those from socioeconomically disadvantaged and marginalized groups, experienced unprecedented stress. Prenatal stress and social determinants of health (SDoH) such as lower education and lack of a relationship partner are known to contribute to earlier birth. However, whether SDoH and stress independently contribute or whether the harmful impact of SDoH is mediated by stress is unknown.