Relationship of fear of COVID-19 and pregnancy-related quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Somayyeh Naghizadeh, Mojgan Mirghafourvand
PMID 34176577WHAT IT FOUND
Pregnant women with higher fear of COVID-19 reported lower pregnancy-related quality of life, even after accounting for health, income and spouse factors.
This is an association, not proof that fear caused lower quality of life.
Key findings
01Fear of COVID-19 and pregnancy-related quality of life were negatively correlated in the 250 participants (r = -0.296, P < 0.001).
02After accounting for socio-demographic and obstetric variables, higher fear remained associated with lower quality of life (B = -0.21, 95% CI -0.34 to -0.09, P = 0.001).
03The mean fear score was 22.29 (SD 7.08) out of 35, and the mean pregnancy-related quality of life score was 2.77 (SD 1.04) out of 4.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The design was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that fear of COVID-19 caused lower quality of life or that reducing fear would improve quality of life. Participants were recruited by convenience sampling from a hospital in Tabriz, Iran, and the authors note results may not generalize to other cities or ethnic groups. The study excluded women with medical or obstetric risk factors, fetal complications, high blood pressure, diabetes, and recent major stress, so it may not apply to higher-risk pregnancies. All measures were self-reported questionnaires, and the authors note possible response bias.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests. The article is classified as having non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that fear of COVID-19 caused lower pregnancy-related quality of life or that reducing fear will improve quality of life. The study was cross-sectional and measured association only.