Psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pregnant women in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia

Abstract

This study investigated the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in pregnant women from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia during March and April 2020. 152 respondents filled out an online administered questionnaire assessing psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, fear of COVID-19 infection and death, attachment styles, perceived social support and other relevant sociodemographic and life history variables. The results indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacts the level of fear and overall psychological functioning of the pregnant women. Especially prone to increased stress reactions are those who have lower partner support, fearful and preoccupied attachment styles, and lower financial status. The results are discussed in terms of the need for a systemic approach to psychological screening for pregnant women. We also point out the need to carefully evaluate the use of the IES-R when applied to assess reactions to collectively experienced prolonged stressful events such as the pandemic.

Mental health effect of COVID-19 pandemic among women who are pregnant and/or lactating: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Of the total 29 studies, 10 were excluded due to inconsistency of results. 31 – 40 Eventually, 19 eligible studies were used in the final analysis of the current systematic review and meta-analysis 41 – 59 ( Figure 1 ).…”

“…Of total of 19 studies included in the final analysis, four studies were done in Canada, 42 , 47 , 52 , 57 three studies in China, 48 , 50 , 56 two in Iran, 41 , 45 six in European countries (Belgium, 55 United Kingdom, 44 Turkey, 58 Ireland, 51 Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, 46 and Italy 49 ), and the rest were conducted in the United States, 59 Colombia, 53 and Sri Lanka. 54 All studies were cross-sectional studies and critical appraisal of cross-sectional studies conducted revealed that about 95% of studies scored more than 75%, only one scored lowest scored 62.5%.…”

“…A total of 18,335 pregnant and lactating women from 14 studies were used to compute the pooled prevalence of depression 41 – 43 , 46 – 48 , 52 – 55 , 57 – 59 was 27% (95% CI: 9%, 45%) by using the DerSimonian and Laird random-effects model (I 2 = 99.29%, p = 0.001) ( Figure 5 ).…”

“…Out of four eligible studies, a total of 1765 pregnant and lactating women were used to compute the pooled estimate of stress. 44 , 46 , 54 , 59 The pooled prevalence of stress was 56% (95% CI: 30.07%–82.2%) using the DerSimonian and Laird random-effects model (I 2 = 98.8%, p = 0.0001). Similarly, the pooled prevalence of insomnia was computed from two eligible articles with a total of 2275 study subjects.…”

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Psychological Status of Pregnant Women

“…A similar study in Italy found that the COVID-19 outbreak caused a moderate psychological impact on pregnant women, and around 53% of respondents reported severe psychological impact [ 22 ]. A study done in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia reported that around that 34.2% of respondents experienced a severe psychological impact, 9.9% experienced moderate, and 23.0% of respondents had mild psychological impact due to the COVID-19 outbreak [ 23 ]. Another study done in China showed that the mean IES score of pregnant women was higher than the present study, with 67.1% of pregnant women had an IES ⩾26, indicating moderate-to-severe psychological impact during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 24 ].…”