MONTRÉAL, June 29, 2020 – A project called CONCEPTION is bringing together an international, multicentric scientific team from Canada, France and the United States, directed by Dr. Anick Bérard, CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre researcher and full professor in the Université de Montréal pharmacy faculty, and launching an appeal to women who are pregnant during COVID-19, whether or not they contracted COVID-19, to take part in a broad study that will provide a valuable tool for understanding the consequences of the upheavals associated with the pandemic.

Science has already established that major stressful episodes, such as the 1998 ice storm, can have a big impact on pregnancy, the physical and mental health of pregnant women and even on the children of mothers who were pregnant during these traumatizing events. In addition to the difficult conditions such situations may entail, the restrictions and limitations stemming from decisions made by the authorities (governments, public health, hospitals...) in response to these emergencies can also have both physical and psychological consequences, which the researchers want to measure and understand. 

“So far, we do not have any data about pregnant women and babies born in the context of COVID-19, an epidemic with unprecedented consequences that has forced public powers to take an array of measures that have been more or less burdensome for pregnant and post-partum women and newborns,” explained Dr. Bérard.

Confinement, physical distancing, school closures, quarantine and restrictions on companions during medical appointments and labour are just some of the measures that have been imposed, in different areas and for varying lengths of time, on the entire population, including expecting mothers and their babies, and scientists are interested in assessing the related consequences. The objectives of the investigation also include understanding pregnant women’s experience with COVID-19 and determining whether the intensity and severity of episodes of depression or stress in this context are related to the stage of pregnancy.

The researchers intend to recruit at least 5,000 participants from several countries and Canadian provinces, which should allow them to construct a nuanced and comparative portrait of the consequences of public health decisions and changes in the provision of healthcare during the peri- and post-natal period, based on different countries and provinces. The study was launch on social media on June 23^rd 2020 – already 422 pregnant women from Canada, USA, France, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and the Emirates have participated and are included.

This study is subsidized by the Réseau québécois de recherche sur les médicaments and the Fonds de la recherche du Québec en santé Drugs and Pregnancy Chair.

To take part in the project

For this extensive study, a two-phase recruitment campaign will be deployed online and through targeted posts on social networks.