COVID-19 in a cohort of pregnant women and their descendants, the MOACC-19 study.

PURPOSE: The Mother and Child COVID-19 study is a cohort recruiting pregnant women and their children in Cantabria, North of Spain, during COVID-19 pandemic in order to ascertain consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection on pregnant women and their descendants. This article reports the cohort profile and preliminary results as recruitment is still open. PARTICIPANTS: Three subcohorts can be identified at recruitment. Subcohort 1 includes women giving birth between 23 March and 25 May 2020; they have been retrospectively recruited and could have been exposed to COVID-19 only in their third trimester of pregnancy. Subcohort 2 includes women giving birth from 26 May 2020 on; they are being prospectively recruited and could have been exposed to COVID-19 in both their second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Subcohort 3 includes women in their 12 week of pregnancy prospectively recruited from 26 May 2020 on; they could have been exposed to COVID-19 anytime in their pregnancy. All women are being tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection using both RT-PCR for RNA detection and ELISA for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. All neonates are being tested for antibodies using immunochemoluminiscency tests; if the mother is tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, a nasopharyngeal swab is also obtained from the child for RT-PCR analysis. FINDINGS TO DATE: As of 22 October, 1167 women have been recruited (266, 354 and 547 for subcohorts 1, 2 and 3, respectively). Fourteen women tested positive to SARS-CoV-2 RNA by the day of delivery. All 14 children born from these women tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. FUTURE PLANS: Children from women included in subcohort 3 are expected to be recruited by the end of 2020. Children will be followed-up for 1 year in order to ascertain the effect that COVID-19 on their development.

Results of Pregnancy Control before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison of Two Cohorts.

The COVID-19 pandemic placed pregnant women at high risk, but behavioural changes have also led to lower rates of preterm births in high-income countries. The main goal of this article is to study the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pregnancy control and outcomes; this is a joint analysis of two cohorts. The pre-pandemic cohort includes 969 pregnant women recruited in 2018. The pandemic cohort comprises 1168 pregnant women recruited in 2020. Information on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, reproductive history, characteristics of the current pregnancy and its outcome were obtained from medical records. Birth by Caesarean section was more frequent in the pre-pandemic cohort (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.71, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.55-0.92). A birth weight lower than 2500 g and higher than 4000 g occurred more frequently in the pre-pandemic cohort (adjusted OR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.41-0.93 for lower than 2500 g and adjusted OR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.20-0.46 for higher than 4000 g). Exclusive breastfeeding upon hospital discharge was more frequent in the pandemic cohort than in the pre-pandemic cohort (60% vs. 54%, p = 0.005), with adjusted OR = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.52-0.86 for mixed breastfeeding and infant formula. In conclusion, we report reductions in Caesarean sections and reduced numbers of low birth weight babies during the pandemic in a hospital located in northern Spain. Further analysis will clarify if these reductions are related to changes in health-related behaviour or healthcare operation.

Combined influence of lifestyle risk factors on body fat in Spanish adolescents--the Avena study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the combined influence of four lifestyle risk factors related to physical activity, television viewing, sleep duration, and meal frequency on body fat (BF) in adolescents. METHOD: This cross-sectional study comprised 1,310 Spanish adolescents (age 13-18.5 years). Lifestyle variables were self-reported and BF indicators (weight, height, six skinfold thicknesses, waist circumference) measured during the years 2000-2002. Lifestyle risk factors were: physically inactive, ≥ 3 h/day watching television, <8 h/day sleep duration, and <5 meals a day. The number of lifestyle risk factors was calculated for each participant, ranging from 0 to 4. RESULTS: The number of lifestyle risk factors was positively associated with sum of six skinfolds, %BF, waist circumference, and waist-height ratio (all p < 0.001). The odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of overweight (including obesity) for groups with 1, 2, and 3-4 lifestyle risk factors compared with those with 0 were 2.86 (1.77-4.62), 3.61 (2.16-6.04), and 5.81 (3.07-10.99), respectively (p for trend <0.001). All the observations were independent of age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, and fat free mass. CONCLUSION: The combined influence of four lifestyle risk factors is positively associated with BF and an approximately sixfold risk of overweight in adolescents.