# 2/7: Longitudinal evaluation of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on high-risk new and expectant mothers

> **NIH NIH R34** · OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $180,332

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The COVID-19 pandemic represents the most significant environmental event in living history and is leading to
unprecedented social, economic and health consequences. There is an urgent need to longitudinally study the
impact of the pandemic on pregnant women and the care they receive, and to understand the consequences
for their children's birth outcomes and neurobehavioral development. Importantly, women with pre-existing
substance use, mental health conditions and limited economic resources may be at increased risk for the wide-
ranging, deleterious sequelae of the pandemic. The proposed project seeks to address these critical gaps by
building upon ongoing harmonized research efforts across seven geographically-representative sites from the
NIH HEALthy Brains and Cognitive Development study (HBCD) initiative, including New York University,
Oregon Health Sciences University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Pittsburgh, Cedars Sinai
Medical Center, University of Vermont and Northwestern University. We will enroll pregnant and postpartum
women into a multi-wave study in which we assess medical, economic, psychosocial and substance use risk
across pregnancy and the perinatal period, studying associations of these factors to infant neurobehavioral
development during the first year of life. Our central hypotheses include: 1) individual variation in perinatal
COVID-19 related stress leads to differences in birth outcomes, parenting stress and infant temperament and
neurodevelopment and 2) substance use, mental health and economic risk enhance susceptibility to negative
COVID-19 related health and psychosocial outcomes. To pursue these aims, prospective longitudinal survey,
birth and postpartum data will be obtained across a 3-month period in N=100 pregnant and new mothers per
site (providing a total consortium sample of N=700) to generate individual temporal profiles of COVID-19
related experiences and responses, comparing outcomes with existing data from maternal-infant cohorts
obtained prior to the pandemic. Further, to identify avenues for intervention, will evaluate substance use, poor
mental health and low social economic status as risk factors and coping, agency and utilization of resources as
resilience factors that influence COVID-19 related maternal stress and child health and neurobehavioral
outcomes. The effects of geographic location will be used to examine the influence of pandemic severity,
variation in local government policies and resource availability on these outcomes. Finally, we will collect and
bank longitudinal perinatal biospecimens in N=40 women per site that will provide a foundation for future
studies to evaluate the biological mechanisms through which the effects on maternal psychological and
physical health influence offspring brain and behavioral development. Through this analysis of COVID-19
related stress, contextual factors and child outcomes, we will develop comprehensive understanding ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10149170
- **Project number:** 3R34DA050291-01S2
- **Recipient organization:** OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Damien A Fair
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $180,332
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-09-30 → 2021-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10149170

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10149170, 2/7: Longitudinal evaluation of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on high-risk new and expectant mothers (3R34DA050291-01S2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10149170. Licensed CC0.

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