Perinatal Depression of Women Along with 2019 Novel Coronavirus Breakout in China
Yan-Ting Wu，Chen Zhang，Han Liu，Chen-Chi Duan，Cheng Li，Jian-Xia Fan ... ...
Date Written: February 17, 2020
Abstract
Background
On 20th Jan 2020, a new coronavirus epidemic with “human-to-human” transmission was officially announced, which inevitably caused public panic in China. Perinatal depression (PND) is one of the most common mental health problems. The purpose of this study is to explore the mental impact of COVID-19 outbreak on pregnant women.
Methods
A total of 4124 pregnant women during third trimester from 25 hospitals in 10 provinces were recruited in this cross-sectional study, from Jan/01 to Feb/09, 2020. Among them, 1285 pregnant women were assessed after Jan/20, and 2839 were assessed before that time point. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used to evaluate the maternal psychological situation. Prevalence of PND and anxiety were compared between two groups.
Findings
Pregnant women had higher scores in EPDS (7.7 vs 7.4, P=0.03) and anxiety subscale (3.4 vs 3.2, P=0.04), especially the highest score for thoughts of self-harm (P=0.005) after the declaration of COVID-19 epidemic. Awareness of COVID-19 significantly increased the prevalence of PND (26.0% vs 29.6%, P=0.02). The COVID-19 number of newly- confirmed, suspected infections, and death cases per day was positively associated with the prevalence of PND (P=0.003, 0.004, and 0.001, respectively). Pregnant women those who were underweight, full-time employed, middle income, age < 35 yrs, primiparous, less exercise, appropriate living area appeared to be more susceptible to the outbreak.
Interpretation
COVID-19 outbreak can increase the depressive risk of pregnant women, especially in the self-harm inclination, suggesting that psychological intervention is an urgent need for maternal population.
