The NICU during COVID-19 pandemic: impact on maternal pediatric medical traumatic stress (PMTS)

Objective: to assess how hospital and outpatient clinic policy changes due to COVID-19 pandemic impact on pediatric medical traumatic stress (PMTS) symptoms in mothers of newborns admitted in a NICU. Study design: observational case control study enrolling mothers of infants admitted in the NICU at birth during Covid-19 pandemic compared with mothers of infants admitted in the NICU before the COVID pandemic. Control group was selected matching 1:1 with study group for following infants’ clinical variables: gender, type of pathology, gestational age, weight at birth, day of recovery, ventilator time days, associated malformations. Italian version of the Impact of Event Scale—Revised (IES-R) was used as a measure of PMTS. Result: Mothers of study group (50) scored significantly higher than mothers of control group on three of four scales of IES-R (respectively, “IES-R Total”: F= 6.70; p= .011; IES-R subscale “Intrusion”: F= 7.45; p= .008; IES-R subscale “Avoidance”: F= 8.15; p= .005). A significantly higher number of mothers in study group scored above the IES-R total clinical cut-off compared to mothers of control group (72% vs 48%; Chi2=6.00; p=.012). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a superimposed stress in mothers of newborn admitted in the neonatal intensive care unit at birth determining high levels of PMTS. Clinicians and researchers should identify and implement novel strategies to provide family-centered care during Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.