Psychological Impact of COVID 19 On Patients and Their Family Members Giving Hospital Care In COVID-19 Ward of Tertiary Care Centre of Low And Middle Income Country Backgrounds In India. An Observational Study.

Author(s): Poonam Kashyap, Shivangini Rana, P S Biswas, Asmita Rathore, YM Mala

Objective: This study aimed to assess the psychological impact of COVID 19 positive pregnant and postpartum women, their primary health care givers.

Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study aimed to assess the psychological impact of COVID 19 infection in 154 positive patients (101 pregnant and 53 post-partum women) and their primary health care givers. This was a cross sectional study conducted in COVID 19 ward in Obstetrics and Gynecology from May, 2020 to August 2020 of Lok Nayak Hospital, a dedicated COVID hospital and a tertiary care center in Delhi.

Results: The score of psychological stress was more in symptomatic patients. The insomnia and social dysfunction were found more in pregnant women group. The additional causes of psychological distress in pregnant women were fear of vertical transmission of COVID 19 and the risk of gross congenital anomaly and intrauterine growth retardation in the baby and concerns for other children, being away from family. The score of anxiety and somatic symptoms and depression were higher in post-partum women group. The psychological distress scores were almost same in primary care givers depicting the same amount of stress as that of patients.

Conclusions: As the pregnant women have greater anxiety and psychological impact because of additional foetus related stress, counselling and preventive strategies are needed to reduce psychological impact in this group. The family members who are giving care to the patients also needs to be counselled.