Abstract
Background: Studies showed that healthcare workers (HCWs) and pregnant women bore the burden of mental problems during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. While, few studies have focused on the psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic on pregnant women who work at healthcare settings. This study aimed to investigate and compare the prevalence difference of psychological symptoms between pregnant HCWs and pregnant non-HCWs during the early stage of COVID-19 pandemic in China.Methods: A cross-sectional online survey with anonymous structured questionnaires was conducted from February 15 to March 9, 2020. A total of 205 pregnant women in Chongqing, China were recruited. The mental health status was assessed using symptom checklist-90 (SCL-90).Results: Our sample was composed of 83 pregnant HCWs (mean age = 29.8) and 122 pregnant non-HCWs (mean age = 30.8). The results suggested the prevalence of psychological symptoms (the factor score ≥2) among all pregnant women ranged from 6.83% (psychosis symptoms) to 17.56% (obsessive-compulsive symptoms). Compared with pregnant non-HCWs, pregnant HCWs reported higher prevalence of psychological symptoms in 10 factors of SCL-90. After controlling the confounding variables, multiple logistic regression demonstrated that pregnant HCWs experienced higher prevalence of psychological symptoms of somatization (18.07 vs. 5.74%, p = 0.006, aOR = 4.52), anxiety disorders (16.87 vs. 6.56%, p = 0.016, aOR = 3.54), and hostility (24.10 vs. 10.66%, p = 0.027, aOR = 2.70) than those among pregnant non-HCW.Conclusion: Our study indicated that pregnant HCWs were more likely to suffer from mental health distress than pregnant non-HCWs during the early stage of COVID-19 pandemic. It is vital to implement targeted psychological interventions for pregnant women, especially for pregnant HCWs to cope with distress when facing the emerging infectious diseases.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to spread throughout many countries and territories since it broke out in December, 2019 [1, 2]
As the Chinese government encouraged the public to stay at home, subjects were electronically invited to participate by completing an anonymous online survey
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to compare the prevalence of psychological symptoms between pregnant healthcare workers (HCWs) and pregnant non-HCWs during the early stage of the COVID19 pandemic in China
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to spread throughout many countries and territories since it broke out in December, 2019 [1, 2]. During the early stage of the pandemic, it was reported that pregnant women had a high prevalence of psychological symptoms. Dong et al [12], for example, investigated the mental status of Chinese pregnant women from February 22 to February 27, 2020 and reported that 8.3% had anxiety and 50.6% had depression. Zhang et al [14] reported that 67.1% of pregnant women experienced moderate-to-severe psychological impact during February and March, 2020, in Liaoning, China. Studies showed that healthcare workers (HCWs) and pregnant women bore the burden of mental problems during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aimed to investigate and compare the prevalence difference of psychological symptoms between pregnant HCWs and pregnant non-HCWs during the early stage of COVID-19 pandemic in China
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
