Abstract
BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has recently become the most important issue in the world. Very few reports in Japan have examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on peripartum mental health. We examined the status of postpartum mental health before and during COVID-19 pandemic from a consecutive database in a metropolitan area of Japan.MethodsThe subjects were women who had completed a maternity health check-up at a core regional hospital in Yokohama during the period from April 1, 2017, to December 31, 2020. We collected the subjects’ scores for the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale (MIBS) at 1 month postpartum. The subjects were divided into four groups (three Before COVID-19 groups and a During COVID-19 group). MANOVA and post-hoc tests were used to determine mental health changes in the postpartum period among the four groups.ResultsThe Before and During COVID-19 groups contained 2844 and 1095 mothers, respectively. There were no significant difference in the total scores of the EPDS and MIBS among the four groups. However, the EPDS items related to anxiety factors were significantly higher and the EPDS items related to anhedonia and depression factors (excluding thoughts of self-harm) were significantly lower in the During COVID-19 group.ConclusionThe EPDS scores changed in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. Anxiety, which represent hypervigilance, was significantly higher and anhedonia and depression were significantly lower in the During COVID-19 group. Our results may reflect COVID-19-related health concerns and a lack of social support caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has recently become the most important issue in the world
For the early detection and intervention of postpartum mental health problems and the identification of their causes, all women are asked to complete the Japanese versions of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale (MIBS) at the time of a one-month maternity health check-up performed by midwives, and a continuous hospital database of this information has been maintained at the Department of Psychiatry since April 1, 2017
In Japan, many women have been greatly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic during the course of their pregnancy and postpartum period, including changes in the place of delivery (8%), the cancellation of planned formal or informal support (23%) and the cancellation of Relationships among anxiety, anhedonia, and depression Our results showed that depression and anhedonia were lower during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this result seems to be inconsistent with previous studies [22, 23]
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has recently become the most important issue in the world. These studies suggest that young women who live with infants may be susceptible to mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic Mental illnesses, such as depressive and anxiety disorders, are among the most common morbidities during pregnancy and in the postpartum period, and the existence of mental distress in mothers can have adverse effects on the psychological development of their children [10,11,12,13]. Some studies have demonstrated high rates of stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, including thoughts of self-harm, in pregnant and postpartum mothers around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic [16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23]. Previous studies have suggested that social isolation and quarantine exacerbated depression and anxiety among pregnant women [17, 24]
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