Frequency and Associated Factors for Anxiety and Depression in Pregnant Women: A Hospital-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Antepartum anxiety and/or depression is a major public health problem globally. The aim of this study was to estimate the frequency of antepartum anxiety and/or depression among pregnant women. This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a tertiary care hospital among pregnant women. A total of 165 pregnant women were interviewed by a clinical psychologist using HADS for assessing anxiety and/or depression and also collected information regarding sociodemographic, obstetric, family relationships, and home environment. Out of the total of 165 pregnant women about 70 percent of them were either anxious and/or depressed. The increasing age of women (P-value = 0.073), not having any live birth (P-value = 0.036), adverse pregnancy outcome in past including death of a child, stillbirth or abortion (P-value = 0.013), participant's role in household decision making (P-value = 0.013), and domestic violence (verbal or physical abuse towards mother or children by any family member) (P-value = 0.123). Our study highlights that anxiety and/or depression is quite common among pregnant women. Therefore, there is a need to incorporate screening for anxiety and depression in the existing antenatal programs and development of strategies to provide practical support to those identified.

Risk factors for depression and anxiety among pregnant women in Hospital Tuanku Bainun, Ipoh, Malaysia

“…Similar findings were reported by Niolufer (Ali et al, 2012) (20.4% and 16.8%) who conducted the study using HADS in a hospital setting. The rates of anxiety and depression disorder diagnosed through MINI interview were 9.1% and 8.6%, respectively.…”

Anxiety in pregnancy: prevalence and associated factors

“…Thus, the characterization of the participants of this study resembled that of other studies regarding age and marital status (4) , however it differs from other studies regarding income and educational level (6) . Considering the incidence of anxiety during pregnancy, there are no homogeneous data.…”

“…In the present study, 26.8% (56) of the pregnant women presented anxiety during pregnancy. In a study conducted in Pakistan (4) , which also used the Hospital Anxiety Subscale as an instrument to assess this disorder, the prevalence of anxiety among pregnant women was 20.4%. Different data were found by a study carried out in South Africa, which used another instrument and found a rate of 11.8% of anxious pregnant women (17) .…”

“…Evidence on prenatal anxiety is still relatively limited when compared to prenatal depression. Although maternal anxiety indexes during pregnancy are heterogeneous, anxiety symptoms and disorders are common in the perinatal period (3)(4) , and the symptoms may range from mild to severe (5) . National and international studies point to variable anxiety indexes around 23% in a study conducted in Alberta, Canada (6) , 15.6% in a study carried out in Germany (7) and 49% in Pakistan (8) .…”

Programa colaborativo a distancia para el tratamiento de la enfermedad depresiva

“…En un porcentaje importante, son pacientes que tienen antecedentes de haber sufrido episodios depresivos anteriormente. Estos datos son concordantes con la literatura internacional y nacional que indica que la depresión afecta más frecuentemente a mujeres en edad fértil 29 .…”