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. 2023 Dec:187:105881.
doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2023.105881. Epub 2023 Oct 27.

Maternal prenatal social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic predicts infant birth weight

Alyssa R Morris  1 , Pia E Sellery  2 , Van Truong  2 , Divya Jeyasingh  2 , Lila Haddan  2 , Darby E Saxbe  2
Affiliations

Maternal prenatal social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic predicts infant birth weight

Alyssa R Morris et al. Early Hum Dev. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Social connectedness and mental health have been associated with infant birth weight, and both were compromised by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aims: We sought to examine whether changes in maternal prenatal social contact due to the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with infant birth weight and if maternal prenatal mental health mediated this association.

Study design: A longitudinal study of mothers and their infants born during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Subjects: The sample consisted of 282 United States-based mother-infant dyads.

Outcome measures: Depressive symptoms were measured with the Beck Depression Inventory-II, anxiety was measured with the State Anxiety Inventory, and stress was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale 14. We also asked participants about pandemic-related changes in social contact across various domains. Adjusted birth weight was calculated from birth records or participant-report when birth records were unavailable.

Results: Decreases in social contact during the pandemic were associated with lower adjusted infant birth weight (B = 76.82, SE = 35.82, p = .035). This association was mediated by maternal prenatal depressive symptoms [Effect = 15.06, 95 % CI (0.19, 35.58)] but not by prenatal anxiety [95 % CI (-0.02, 32.38)] or stress [95 % CI (-0.31, 26.19)].

Conclusion: These findings highlight concerns for both mothers and infants in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, since birth weight can have long-term health implications and the social restructuring occasioned by the pandemic may lead to lasting changes in social behavior.

Keywords: Adjusted birth weight; Coronavirus; Maternal; Mental health; Perinatal; Social support.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors report no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:. Flowchart of study participants
Breakdown of study participants and exclusions. * To determine fraudulent data, participant responses were investigated if data was invalid (i.e., four-digit zip code), the baby’s birthday exceeded their due date by over two weeks, or there was a mismatch in data between prenatal and three-month surveys (i.e., respondents stated that they themselves were pregnant during the prenatal survey but that their partner gave birth on the three-month survey). Additionally, participant emails were monitored against fraudulent email lists, and the participant’s zip code was compared to their IP address. Participants were contacted to clarify discrepancies and were deemed fraudulent if major discrepancies remained following attempted clarification. **To avoid any confounding effects of a COVID-19 infection, we excluded 38 subjects who reported having a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 at some point between the start of their pregnancy and three months postpartum. While this may have captured subjects that contracted COVID-19 following birth, we did not have granular enough data to distinguish the timing of COVID-19 infection, and thus, we took a conservative approach in excluding all subjects who reported having COVID-19 at some point prior to the three-month postpartum survey.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:. Reported changes in social contact
Breakdown of participant responses when asked about their contact with family, friends, coworkers, and community as compared with before the COVID-19 pandemic.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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