Effect of pre‐amniocentesis counseling on maternal pain and anxiety

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of anticipated and perceived pain and anxiety in expectant mothers at the times of pre-counseling, post-counseling, and post-amniocentesis and to investigate the effect of pre-amniocentesis counseling on the level of pain and anxiety. This prospective study was carried out on 240 women with singleton pregnancies at mid-trimester. The maternal pain and anxiety levels associated with the procedure were evaluated using the visual analogue scale. Perceived pain and anxiety were assessed before and after counseling the pregnant woman about amniocentesis, and after amniocentesis. Median anticipated pain levels before (pain 1) and after pre-procedure counseling (pain 2) were 5 and 4, respectively. The actual pain after the procedure (pain 3) was 3. Median levels of anxiety felt by the patients before (anxiety 1) and after pre-procedure counseling (anxiety 2) were 6 and 3, respectively, while the median anxiety after the procedure (anxiety 3) was 5. For the pain and anxiety measurements, the results for each of the comparison times were significantly different from the results for the other two comparison times (P < 0.001). Adequate pre-amniocentesis counseling effectively reduces the actual level of pain and anxiety felt by the mother undergoing mid-trimester amniocentesis.