Increases in symptoms associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: The long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on college students' mental health remains unknown. The current study explored self-reported Obsessive-Compulsive symptomatology among college student cohorts from pre-, peak-, and later-pandemic time points. PARTICIPANTS: Undergraduate college students (N = 524) who volunteered for course credit. METHODS: Self-report responses on the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS), which includes subscales for contamination, unacceptable thoughts, harm responsibility, and symmetry, were collected from November 29, 2016 through April 27, 2021 and assessed for differences between the pre-, peak-, and later-pandemic cohorts. RESULTS: Peak-pandemic responders reported higher symptomatology for contamination and unacceptable thoughts compared to pre-pandemic responders (and for pre- vs. later-pandemic for contamination), with no significant effects for symmetry or harm responsibility. CONCLUSIONS: Although the longer-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on students remains unknown, a greater shift in college mental health services from prevention to assessing and addressing more immediate challenges may be necessary.

Socioeconomic Disparity in Birth Rates During the COVID-19 Pandemic in New York City.

Background: The differential impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status remains poorly understood. While recent explorations into birthrates during the pandemic have revealed significant declines, how birthrates may have differed between racial and socioeconomic subgroups during the pandemic remains to be detailed. Methods: Using electronic health records from a large hospital network in New York serving a racially and socioeconomically diverse population, we explored birthrates associated with conceptions that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown for demographic and obstetric differences. Results: Two thousand five hundred twenty-three unique patient deliveries corresponded with conceptions that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in New York. Compared to the same period the previous year, there was a 22.85% decrease in births. Explorations into differences in birthrates by socioeconomic status revealed that much of the decline could be explained by fewer births among individuals living in higher socioeconomic status as opposed to individuals living in urban economic poverty [χ2(n = 5588) = 18.35, p < 0.01]. Conclusion: On March 22, 2020, New York instituted a prohibition of all nonessential social gatherings and the closure of all nonessential businesses. Although the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on reproductive health and outcomes remains largely unknown, the decreased birthrate associated with the initial COVID-19 wave in New York was not entirely unexpected. While the mechanisms that drive health disparities are complex and multifactorial, most of the decrease occurred among those living in higher socioeconomic status. This finding has important implications for understanding health behaviors and disparities among minorities living in low socioeconomic status.

Postpartum mood among universally screened high and low socioeconomic status patients during COVID-19 social restrictions in New York City.

The mental health effects of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on postpartum women are of increasing concern among mental health practitioners. To date, only a handful of studies have explored the emotional impact of the pandemic surrounding pregnancy and none have investigated the consequence of pandemic-related social restrictions on the postpartum mood of those living among different socioeconomic status (SES). All postpartum patients appearing to the Mount Sinai Health System for their postpartum appointment between January 2, 2020 and June 30, 2020, corresponding to before and during pandemic imposed social restrictions, were screened for mood symptomatology using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Each patient's socioeconomic status (high/low) was determined by their location of clinical service. A total of 516 postpartum patients were screened. While no differences in EPDS scores were observed by SES prior to social restrictions (U = 7956.0, z = - 1.05, p = .293), a significant change in mood symptomatology was observed following COVID-19 restrictions (U = 4895.0, z = - 3.48, p < .001), with patients living in lower SES reporting significantly less depression symptomatology (U = 9209.0, z = - 4.56, p < .001). There was no change in symptomatology among patients of higher SES (U = 4045.5, z = - 1.06, p = .288). Postpartum depression, the most common complication of childbearing, is a prevalent, cross-cultural disorder with significant morbidity. The observed differences in postpartum mood between patients of different SES in the context of temporarily imposed COVID-19-related social restrictions present a unique opportunity to better understand the specific health and social support needs of postpartum patients living in urban economic poverty. Given that maternal mental illness has negative long-term developmental implications for the offspring and that poor mental health reinforces the poverty cycle, future health policy specifically directed towards supporting postpartum women living in low SES by ameliorating some of the early maternal burdens associated with balancing employment-family-childcare demands may assist in interrupting this cycle while simultaneously improving the long-term outcomes of their offspring.

Early pregnancy mood before and during COVID-19 community restrictions among women of low socioeconomic status in New York City: a preliminary study.

To explore the mental health consequences of COVID-19-related social restrictions on pregnant women living in low socioeconomic status. Prenatal women appearing at the Mount Sinai Hospital Ambulatory Practice were screened for mood symptomatology from February 2, 2020, through June 12, 2020. An improvement in prenatal mood was observed following social restrictions compared to before the pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 remains largely unknown and may be useful towards understanding the needs of pregnant women living in poverty.