Anxiety scores before and after prenatal testing for congenital anomalies

Abstract

Prenatal testing for fetal anomalies presents an anxiety-inducing situation for the parents-to-be. If the results are negative, anxiety is reduced. Pregnant women who are confronted with a positive malformation scan show unchanged levels of anxiety after the examination.

Congenital anomalies: parents’ anxiety and women's concerns before prenatal testing and women's opinions towards the risk factors

“…The data from this study are consistent with others and show that reasons for applying to the prenatal diagnosis unit are significantly related with the anxiety levels in both parents (Eurenius et al. 1997, Kowalcek et al. 2003, Ng et al.…”

The effect of stress and anxiety associated with maternal prenatal diagnosis on feto-maternal attachment

“…There is much debate surrounding prenatal invasive testing as a means of reassurance for women identified as being at risk of carrying a fetus affected by a chromosomal or structural abnormality. While undergoing prenatal screening for genetic abnormalities may protect women from high levels of anxiety [2,3], it may also encourage women to focus on what may be wrong with the child, increasing levels of anxiety [4]. …”

“…Previous research has clearly shown a relationship between undergoing an invasive test and increased anxiety levels [2,5,6] although receiving a normal result may in fact reduce the anxiety experienced later in the pregnancy [3]. …”

Effects of Previous Pregnancy Loss on Level of Maternal Anxiety After Prenatal Ultrasound Screening for Fetal Malformation

“…In a study by Bjö rkhem et al (1997), anxiety decreased after normal fetal echocardiography both in women who had previously lost a child to heart disease and in those whose child with a cardiac failure was still alive. Kowalcek et al (2002) showed a significant reduction in anxiety after ultrasound scanning in women with a nonsuspicious scan but not in those with a suspected diagnosis of fetal malformation (see also Brisch et al, 2002). Detection of minor anomalies by prenatal scanning may generate disproportional maternal anxiety, as the findings of Thomas (2001) indicate.…”

“…Coping might be influenced by the information given by clinicians about the specific purposes of ultrasound scans and what they can and what they cannot achieve (Garcia et al, 2002;Zlotogorski, Tadmor, Duniec, Rabinowitz, & Diamant, 1995), including information about the possibility of false-positive and false-negative results (Hutton & Spicer, 1994) and their psychological aftermath. Women might fear detection of a malformation as much as the possibility that it will be missed on examination (Kowalcek et al, 2002), and the ultrasound scanning as such could provoke an anxious maternal reaction (Teichmann, Rabinovitz, & Rabinowitz, 1991). Counseling might be helpful in this situation.…”