Abstract
Objectives:The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a profound impact on health and well-being of populations. However, there are limited studies that have investigated the psychological aspects of vulnerable groups including pregnant women amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we aimed to assess the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among Chinese pregnant women from February 2020 until March 2020.Methods:Our study was conducted using a modified validated online questionnaire comprising of sociodemographic, the Impact of Event Scale (IES), attitude and mental health-related questions towards COVID-19.Results:A total of 560 women were included. The overall mean age and IES of women was 25.8 ± 2.7 years and 31.4 ± 13.7. Moreover, 67.1% of them had IES ⩾26. Psychological impact seemed to be more severe in women in second trimester of pregnancy (the highest IES) (p = .016). There was a significant association between trimesters of pregnancy and some indicators of negative health impacts (including increased stress from work, increased stress from home, feeling apprehensive and helpless during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic) (all p < .05).Conclusions:Our results reported moderate-to-severe stressful impact among Chinese pregnant women. We recommend that appropriate measures should be taken to address the maternal mental health issues.
Highlights
China has been deeply affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic which was caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) since December 2019
A cross-sectional study was conducted online via WeChat between February and March 2020 to recruit a convenience sample of pregnant women residing in Liaoning Province, China which is located in the Northeast region of China
Our study reported that the overall mean Impact of Event Scale (IES) in pregnant women was 31.4 ± 13.7, with 67.1% of pregnant women had an IES ⩾26, indicating moderate-to-severe stressful impact during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
China has been deeply affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic which was caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) since December 2019. In the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, some studies have reported increased prevalence and severity of mental health-related problems in the general populations (El-Zoghby et al, 2020; Ma et al, 2020; Qiu et al, 2020; Zhang & Ma, 2020). Pregnant women may encounter increased stress, anxiety and depression levels during infectious disease outbreaks such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. These impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, both positive and negative, have not been extensively assessed
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