ObjectiveTo investigate the association between maternal infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant during pregnancy and common infant illnesses and neurodevelopment. MethodsA cohort study was designed, selecting 113 pregnant women from Shanghai’s Pudong New Area who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by nasal swab reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and were transported to medical institutions for isolation treatment between March and May 2022. These women constituted the pregnancy infection group. Concurrently, 226 pregnant women from the same region and time period who did not infect with SARS-CoV-2 were selected as the control group. Both groups were followed up until delivery and their offspring’s one year old. The differences in the risk of common infant illnesses and the level of infant’s neurodevelopment at age one were compared between the two groups. ResultsNo significant difference was found in the incidence of common illnesses before one year of age between the pregnancy infection group and the control group. Additionally, no significant differences were found in any domain scores of the ASQ-3 between the two groups. ConclusionMaternal infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant during pregnancy was not statistically significant correlated with common infant illnesses in infancy and neurodevelopment at age one.

Background Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, staff of the centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) have been burdened with heavy epidemic prevention control, and excessive occupational stress can cause depression and other psychological problems. Objective To explore the status of occupational stress, resilience, and depression of CDC staff and potential relationships between them. Methods From December 2020 to April 2021, a survey was conducted at provincial and municipal levels, and the stratified cluster sampling method was used at county (district) level to select a total of 3514 samples. Their occupational stress, resilience, and depression status were evaluated using the Chinese Effort-Reward Imbalance Scale (ERI), the Chinese Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Independent sample t test, analysis of variance, χ² test, Pearson correlation analysis, and mediation test (structural equation model) were conducted. Results The positive rate of occupational stress was 34.29% in the CDC staff, the resilience score was 66.28±15.32, and the positive rate of depression was 48.58%. Significant differences were found in the positive rates of occupational stress among different groups of gender, age, education background, marital status, administrative duty, weekly exercise frequency, chronic disease prevalence, and participation in epidemic control (P<0.05); in the resilience scores among different groups of gender, age, administrative duty, weekly exercise frequency, chronic disease prevalence, and participation in epidemic control (P<0.05); in the positive rates of depression among different groups of gender, age, educational background, personal monthly income, weekly exercise frequency, chronic disease prevalence, and participation in epidemic control (P<0.05). Occupational stress was negatively correlated with resilience (r=−0.165, P<0.01). Resilience was negatively correlated with depression (r=−0.383, P<0.01). Occupational stress was positively correlated with depression (r=0.343, P<0.01). The structural equation embracing a partial mediating effect of resilience on the relationship occupational stress and depression was established, and the partial mediating effect was 0.039, accounting for 10.46% of the total effect. Conclusion High positive rates of occupational stress, reduced resilience, and depression are shown among CDC staff in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic, and resilience partially mediates the effect of occupational stress on depression. The study findings suggest that improving resilience may reduce occupational stress and depression in CDC staff.