Antenatal depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study in pregnant women from routine health care contact in Greece.
OBJECTIVES
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the public health measures introduced to control it, on mental health, is largely unknown. Research conducted during past epidemics found that pregnant women are more vulnerable psychologically. The aim of this study was to investigate antenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms during this pandemic in Greece.


METHODS
All women receiving routine antenatal care, during a three-month period, starting one week after the total lockdown in Greece, in a University department, were asked to fill in two questionnaires, the Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).


RESULTS
Overall, 505 women (93.3% of the eligible population) agreed to participate. The prevalence of antenatal depression (EPDS score≥13) in the population of the study was 13.5%. Unplanned pregnancy (OR: 2.447; 95% CI: 1.235-4.846), smoking (OR: 2.268; 95% CI: 1.166-4.411) and antenatal anxiety (OR: 5.074; 95% CI: 2.898-8.883) increased the risk of antenatal depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. State (current)-anxiety affected 34.1% of the participants, whereas Trait (lifetime)-anxiety affected 15.8%. The State-anxiety score (median) was significantly higher than the Trait-anxiety (median) (41 vs. 36; p<0.001), revealing an increase in the levels of anxiety in the pandemic, while there was also a positive linear correlation between the two scales (rho=0.592; p<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The unprecedented situation of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased anxiety, but not depression levels of pregnant women in Greece. Population level interventions to address adverse effects on anxiety status in the initial phases of similar situations may be helpful in the future.
['Tsakiridis|Ioannis|I|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4337-7871', 'Dagklis|Themistoklis|T|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2863-5839', 'Mamopoulos|Apostolos|A|', 'Athanasiadis|Apostolos|A|', 'Pearson|Rebecca|R|', 'Papazisis|Georgios|G|']
D000328:Adult D001007:Anxiety D000086382:COVID-19 D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D003863:Depression D005260:Female D006115:Greece D006801:Humans D011247:Pregnancy D011248:Pregnancy Complications D012307:Risk Factors
depression anxiety COVID-19 Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) pregnancy