Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression in Pregnant Women at Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Background: Pregnancy is a period of strength and optimism for a woman, even though it is a period of vulnerability. As many as one in ten new mothers have clinical depression or anxiety before or throughout the first year after the delivery of a baby, regardless of financial status. Objective: To evaluate prevalence of anxiety and depression in pregnant women at tertiary care hospital Methodology: This cross sectional study was carried out at the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Women and Children Hospital, Charsadda for a period of six months from July 2021 to December 2021. A total of 250 pregnant women were included in our study based on WHO, sample size calculator. To assess Anxiety and depression, Hamilton anxiety rating scale and Hamilton depression rating scale were employed. IBM SPSS version 24 was used for all the data analysis. Results: Based on Hamilton depression rating score, amongst 250 participants, 47 (18.8%) participants were normal, 75 (30%) participants were observed with mild depression, moderate depression was observed in 70 (28%) participants, severe depression was observed in 33 (13.2%) participants and very severe depression was observed in 25 (10%) participants while Based on Hamilton anxiety rating score, the number of participants in normal, mild, moderate and severe anxiety range were 88 (35.2%), 45 (18%), 171 (31.2%) and 39 (15.2%) respectively. Conclusion: Our study concludes that depression and anxiety is highly prevalent in our population. Majority of the women from rural areas were uneducated. Keywords: Prevalence; Anxiety; Depression; Pregnancy