The COVID-19 Pandemic Can Impact Perinatal Mental Health and the Health of the Offspring Caparrós González, Rafael Arcángel Ganho-Ávila, Ana de la Torre-Luque, Alejandro Prenatal stress Antenatal stress Psychological stress Psychological well-bieng Physiological stress Cortisol Pregnancy COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 Offspring Neonate The COVID-19 ongoing pandemic constitutes a major challenge for countries throughout the world due to the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 and devastating consequences in health. No one is free from COVID-19 impact. In this regard, pregnant women are not the exception. The COVID-19 outbreak represents a massive source of stressful agents for women and their babies during the perinatal period. The COVID-19 pandemic has been suggested to potentially have short- and long-term detrimental effects on pregnant women and the baby. These adverse consequences range from mental to medical diseases. During the last centuries, several dreadful and fatal incidents have put pregnant women and their babies at higher risk of mortality and health deterioration. For example, it has been informed that women exposed to the 1918 flu pandemic (commonly known as the Spanish flu) while pregnant showed higher rates of premature delivery in the short term. Long-term consequences have also been reported and individuals (both males and females) who were exposed to the 1918 flu pandemic while in utero had a higher risk of developing schizophrenia, diabetes, coronary heart disease or cancer throughout their lifespan. 2020-12-18T10:11:56Z 2020-12-18T10:11:56Z 2020-10-23 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Caparros-Gonzalez, R.A.; Ganho-Ávila, A.; Torre-Luque, A. The COVID-19 Pandemic Can Impact Perinatal Mental Health and the Health of the Offspring. Behav. Sci. 2020, 10, 162. [doi:10.3390/bs10110162] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/65025 10.3390/bs10110162 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España MDPI