the impact of COVID-۱۹ pandemic on the mental health of pregnant and breastfeeding women

Background and Objective: The COVID-۱۹ pandemic appeared firstly on December ۱۲, ۲۰۱۹ in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Due to wide spread of COVID-۱۹, World HealthOrganization (WHO) has recognized it as a pandemic. one of the psychological aspects of COVID-۱۹ pandemic is fear and understanding the effect of such aspect on the individuals' mental health is very important. Among the groups vulnerable to viral infections and their consequences, pregnant women can be mentioned. Hence, it is acceptable that pregnant women are vulnerable to mental and psychological health problems during COVID-۱۹ epidemic.Materials and Methods: This review study is conducted in ۲۰۲۲ and includes nearly articles indexed in English on databases like, Pubmed, Google scholar, Science direct, from ۲۰۲۰ to ۲۰۲۱. Searching some English words such as, COVID-۱۹, breastfeeding, pregnancy, stress, depression, among English articles, facilitated this study.Results: The potential impact of the COVID-۱۹ pandemic on mental health should not be neglected, especially in vulnerable populations. Pregnant and breastfeeding women are facing numerous life changes that make them particularly vulnerable to mental health disorders. The sources of concern and anxiety for pregnant women during pandemics include concern over quarantine-related loneliness during and after delivery, limited access to healthcare services due to fear over affliction, increased requests for delivery through elective Cesarean section, concerns related to the frequent use of disinfectants, and concerns over child care, breastfeeding, and vaccination. Concerns and stress during pregnancy would have some side effects such as preeclampsia, depression, the increased nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, preterm delivery, low birth weight, and low Apgar score.Conclusion: Maternal depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress have been associated with adverse pregnancy, fetal, and long-term infant outcomes.Therefore, it is critical that mental health disorders are detected and addressed in clinical practice. Thus,concern in pregnant women is an addition threat to physical, mental and psychological health of mothers and their fetus and finally for the society's health and took into account the lack of efficient studies on the quality of life during pregnancy and the related effective factors within this pandemic.

کلیدواژه ها:

COVID-۱۹ ، breastfeeding ، pregnancy ، stress ، depression