Midwives and psychologists as profesionals to screen and prevent pregnancy-specific stress

Abstract

Events that occur during fetal and perinatal life can have consequences on the health and disease of the offspring. The pioneering work on the “Fetal Programming Hypothesis” focused on pregnant women exposed to a great famine that occurred in the Netherlands at the end of World War II. The intrauterine environment of the babies during that famine caused them to low birthweight and determined the appearance of cardiovascular diseases in themselves when they reached adulthood, a risk that was transmitted even to the following generation.

In addition to the general stress that a pregnant woman may suffer as a result of the death of a family member, suffering a war or natural disaster such as the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, there is another specific type of stress that refers exclusively to the pregnancy process; this is the pregnancy specific-stress. Pregnancy-specific stress is capable of sensitively predicting negative maternal and neonatal outcomes. This type of stress refers to the specific stress of pregnant women related to medical problems, the health of the newborn, the changes that the pregnancy will produce in their social relationships, prematurity, physical changes of pregnancy and fear of labor and birth.

The objective of this article was to offer an updated information on pregnancy-specific stress and its consequences for maternal and neonatal health. Thus, we also proposed to offer strategies that midwives and psychologists can use to reduce pregnancy-specific stress levels.

In conclusion, midwives and psychologists can work together to reduce pregnancy-specific stress levels.