{"id":163867,"date":"2020-04-10T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T16:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?p=163867"},"modified":"2020-09-17T10:19:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:19:21","slug":"pregnancy-planning-during-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2020\/pregnancy-planning-during-a-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Pregnancy Planning during a Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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April 10, 2020<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\"PregnantThe Boston Globe<\/em> recently asked Lauren Wise<\/a> if COVID-19 shutdowns and stay-at-home orders around the country this spring will lead to a modest baby boom<\/a> this winter. It\u2019s plausible, according to the professor of epidemiology and principal investigator of the School of Public Health-based Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO)<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

But as the new coronavirus turns the world upside down, Wise and her PRESTO colleagues are wondering about more than a \u201cbaby boomlet.\u201d Does having had COVID-19 make it harder to conceive? Does the stress of this difficult time raise the risk of miscarriage? Are couples postponing their plans until things settle down?<\/p>\n

For the last decade, PRESTO has shed light on what does and doesn\u2019t help or hinder conception and a healthy pregnancy, including soda<\/a>, stress<\/a>, cannabis use (by prospective mothers<\/a> and fathers<\/a>, respectively), and sleep<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, the researchers are turning their attention to the new coronavirus, and the havoc it has wreaked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an unprecedented situation that is dramatically affecting all aspects of people\u2019s lives,\u201d says Amelia Wesselink, PRESTO co-investigator and a postdoctoral associate in epidemiology. \u201cOur access to an ongoing cohort of women trying to get pregnant and women who are pregnant will allow us to assess the reproductive consequences of this type of crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

In PRESTO, thousands of women and couples planning to get pregnant across North America have responded to detailed online surveys every two months, answering questions about everything from intercourse frequency and menstruation, to smoking and diet, to education and income, as well as their experiences if and when they do get pregnant and give birth.<\/p>\n

The next round of surveys will now also include questions about COVID-19, including whether a woman or her male partner has had COVID-19-like symptoms or tested positive, how worried she is about contracting the disease, how her life has been affected by workplace closures and other efforts to slow the spread of the disease, whether she is considering holding off on trying to get pregnant, and whether concerns about COVID-19 are affecting her prenatal care or birth plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is huge value in adding questions about health crises to an ongoing study like this,\u201d Wesselink says, noting that PRESTO will be able to capture and compare data on stress levels before, during, and after this unprecedented pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the key strengths of our internet-based study is the ability to adapt quickly as important potential new risk factors emerge,\u201d says co-investigator Elizabeth Hatch<\/a>, professor of epidemiology. \u201cThis seemed like an opportunity that we shouldn\u2019t pass up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Michelle Samuels<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The long-running PRESTO study is examining the new coronavirus\u2019 effects on pregnancy, including planning, conception, and miscarriage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10989,"featured_media":163892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[2209,3430,3434,2194,2068,506,2166,2157,1537,2158,3445],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3526,3530,3531,3540],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[3094,319,498],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/163867"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10989"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163867"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/163867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172863,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/163867\/revisions\/172863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163867"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=163867"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=163867"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=163867"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=163867"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=163867"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=163867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}