Elsevier

Psychiatry Research

Volume 295, January 2021, 113567
Psychiatry Research

Mental health of pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113567Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Prenatal anxiety and depression increase progressively throughout the pandemic.

  • Pandemic context differentially affects pregnant and non-pregnant women.

  • As the pandemic progresses, differences between groups intensify.

  • Being pregnant is a risk factor for the development of psychopathological indicators.

Abstract

Several studies have reported the susceptibility of pregnant women to emotional instability and stress. Thus, pregnancy may be a risk factor that could deepen the already negative effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze longitudinally the psychopathological consequences of the pandemic in pregnant women, and to explore differences with non-pregnant women. The participants in this study were 102 pregnant women, and a control group of 102 non-pregnant women (most of them reported having university studies and little financial impact from the pandemic). They completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, in three different times (2, 14, and 47 days after the start of the lockdown). In a time range of 50 days of quarantine, all women showed a gradual increase in psychopathological indicators and a decrease in positive affect. Pregnant women showed a more pronounced increase in depression, anxiety and negative affect than the non-pregnant women did. In addition, pregnant women showed a more pronounced decrease in positive affect. It is important for institutions dedicated to perinatal health care to count on empirical information to optimize the provision of their services.

Keywords

Pregnancy
Isolation
Lockdown
Prenatal depression
Prenatal anxiety
Stress

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