INTRODUCTION A significant proportion of pregnant women and women in the early postpartum period suffer from mental health problems. The COVID-19 pandemic represents a unique stressor during this period and many studies across the world have shown elevated rates of postpartum depression (PPD). METHODS In this multicenter two-phase observational prospective cohort study, we aim to assess the prevalence of anxiety prior to labor (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7), as well as PPD at 6–8 weeks postpartum using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). RESULTS Of the 330 women analyzed, 13.2% reported symptoms of depression using EPDS cut-off score ≥13. High antenatal levels of anxiety (24.8% scored ≥10 in GAD-7) were documented. A significant proportion of postpartum women reported a decrease in willingness to attend antenatal education courses (36%) and fewer antenatal visits to their obstetrician (34%) due to pandemic. Higher antenatal anxiety increased the odds of being depressed at 6–8 weeks postpartum (EPDS ≥13). CONCLUSIONS Compared to reported prevalence of PPD from previous studies before the COVID-19 era in Greece, we did not find elevated rates during the first wave of the pandemic. High anxiety levels were observed indicating that there is a need for close monitoring in pregnancy during the pandemic and anxiety screening to identify women who need support in the pandemic era. A well-planned maternity program should be employed by all the associated care providers to maintain the proper antenatal care adjusted to the pandemic strains as well as a follow-up after labor.

ObjectivesPoint‐of‐care ultrasonography of the upper airway can be a useful supplement to conventional pre‐anesthetic clinical evaluations. However, the reliability of such examinations is highly operator‐dependent and proper training in sonoanatomy and ultrasound operational skills are required. The objective of this study aims to assess the minimum training requirements for applying a predefined upper airway scanning protocol in healthy volunteers by anesthesia trainees.MethodsTwenty‐two healthy volunteer members of the Operating Room staff participated in the study. A predefined scanning protocol that included the identification of specific structures (hyoid bone, vocal cords, thyrohyoid membrane/epiglottis/pre‐epiglottic space, cricothyroid membrane, and thyroid gland), as well as the performance of specific measurements (distance from the hyoid bone to skin, anterior commissure to skin, epiglottis to skin, and thyroid isthmus to skin) was taught in a single‐day training course. The trainees' competence was assessed after multiple scanning repetitions performed over a week. Mixed effects regression models were applied for the trainee–instructor differences in all ultrasound measurements.ResultsCricothyroid membrane visualization had the lowest success rate (88%). Trainee–instructor differences were statistically significant for hyoid bone‐to‐skin (P < .001) and epiglottis‐to‐skin distances (P = .016). Measurement of the distance from the epiglottis to the skin required more scanning repetitions to achieve minimum deviance compared with other measurements. Ten or fewer scanning repetitions were sufficient to achieve minimum deviance for all four measurements.ConclusionsAt least 10 scanning repetitions of a pre‐defined upper airway scanning protocol can be used as the minimum standard for training.