Anxiety in early pregnancy: prevalence and contributing factors

Abstract

Antenatal anxiety symptoms are not only a health problem for the expectant mother. Research has found that maternal anxiety may also have an impact on the developing baby. Therefore, it is important to estimate the prevalence of maternal anxiety and associated factors. The current study aims to estimate the prevalence of anxiety symptoms during the first trimester of pregnancy and to identify associated risk factors. Secondly, to investigate other factors associated with anxiety during early pregnancy including fear of childbirth and a preference for cesarean section. In a population-based community sample of 1,175 pregnant women, 916 women (78%) were investigated in the first trimester (gestation week 8-12). The Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS-A) was used to measure anxiety symptoms. The prevalence of anxiety symptoms (HADS-A scores≥8 during pregnancy) was 15.6% in early pregnancy. Women under 25 years of age were at an increased risk of anxiety symptoms during early pregnancy (OR 2.6, CI 1.7-4.0). Women who reported a language other than Swedish as their native language (OR 4.2, CI 2.7-7.0), reported high school as their highest level of education (OR 1.6, CI 1.1-2.3), were unemployed (OR 3.5, CI 2.1-5.8), used nicotine before pregnancy (OR 1.7, CI 1.1-2.5), and had a self-reported psychiatric history of either depression (OR 3.8, CI 2.6-5.6) or anxiety (OR 5.2, CI 3.5-7.9) before their current pregnancy were all at an increased risk of anxiety symptoms during early pregnancy. Anxiety symptoms during pregnancy increased the rate of fear of birth (OR 3.0, CI 1.9-4.7) and a preference for cesarean section (OR 1.7, CI 1.0-2.8). Caregivers should pay careful attention to history of mental illness to be able to identify women with symptoms of anxiety during early pregnancy. When presenting with symptoms of anxiety, the women might need counseling and or treatment in order to decrease her anxiety.

The Placenta as a Mediator of Stress Effects on Neurodevelopmental Reprogramming

“…Nearly 20%-40% of pregnancies are complicated by adverse intrauterine conditions, including maternal mental health disorders, diabetes, obesity, and preeclampsia (Ananth et al, 2013;Bennett et al, 2004;Dawson et al, 2015;DeSisto et al, 2014;Goodman et al, 2014;Rubertsson et al, 2014). These fetal exposures are significant risk factors for neuropsychiatric disease predisposition, in particular in male offspring.…”

GAD-7 and PHQ-9 measurement of perinatal anxiety and depression in women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in Yaounde, Cameroon

“…For each item, we assigned a score of 0, 1, 2, and 3, to the response categories of 'not at all', 'several days', 'more Authors obtained the total by adding together the scores for the nine questions. With a possible total score of 27, patients were classified as absence of depression (PHQ-9 score: 0-4), mild depression (PHQ-9 score: 5-9), moderate depression (PHQ-9 score: 10-14), moderately severe depression (PHQ-9 score: 15-19), or severe depression (PHQ-9 score: [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. At the end of it all, patients who scored ≥10 suggestive of anxiety as well as depressive disorders were referred for appropriate psychiatric care.…”

“…20 Rubertsson et al reported depression and anxiety in early pregnancy to be associated with the risk for preeclampsia. 21 Kharaghani et al in Tehran, Iran reported the prevalence of moderate to severe depression in preeclamptic women as 31.2% during pregnancy. 22 In order to document the perinatal frequency of anxiety and depression disorders in women with hypertensive pregnancy disorders in our setting, we decided to carry out this study.…”

Correlation between intake of omega-3 fatty acids and depressive and anxiety symptoms during pregnancy

“…Anxiety symptoms (AS) during pregnancy have an international prevalence between 9.1% and 15.6% (Fadzil et al, 2013;Rubertsson et al, 2014) and a prevalence between 10% and 15% in Mexico (Ceballos-Martínez et al, 2010;Navarrete et al, 2012). Occasionally, AS during pregnancy are more frequent than depressive symptoms (DS) (Navarrete et al, 2012).…”