New York, Mar 17 (IANS): A new study has revealed that the Covid-19 pandemic has increased pregnancy stress for expectant mothers as well as postpartum women in the US.

The findings indicated that one of their biggest concerns is their baby contracting the disease. Some women expressed fears that simply going to the hospital to deliver would cause them to get the virus and then be forced to isolate from their newborn.

"Pregnant women are really stressed about contracting Covid-19," said lead author Celestina Barbosa-Leiker from the Washington State University Health Sciences Spokane in the US.

"They have a lot of questions for their health care providers. There's a lot of we do not know yet, which is understandable, but it's especially stressful for the moms," Barbosa-Leiker added.

For the study, published in the journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, the team analyzed survey responses from more than 160 pregnant and post-partum women. They collected both quantitative survey responses from the whole group and more in-depth qualitative responses from a sub-set of women.

In the study, 52 per cent of pregnant women and 49 per cent of postpartum women worried about their babies contracting Covid-19, and 46 per cent had sought extra information about Covid-19 protocols from the hospital where they had planned to deliver, or had delivered, their babies.

In the qualitative portion of the survey, women reported many serious concerns. For example, a participant noted that their main concern during the pandemic was contracting Covid-19 and dying.

Others worried about contracting the virus in the hospital when they delivered and that Covid-19 policies would force them to isolate from their newborn or keep their partners out of the birthing room, the study indicated.