VP45.30: The impact of COVID‐19 pandemic on the intensity of anxiety and depressive symptoms among pregnant women

Abstract

Psychological factors play an important role in the course of pregnancy and may contribute to obstetrical complications. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic was challenging for every person, but might have even greatly affected pregnant women. Hence, in our study we assessed the depressive and anxiety symptoms in pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic and we tried to determine the main cause of those symptoms. The study enrolled 63 women with mean age of 30 (SD 5.4) who were admitted to the hospital for delivery. We evaluated depressive and anxiety symptoms with Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A for anxiety; HADS-D for depression) before delivery. We invented the special survey in order to assess whether worries felt by subjects were caused by COVID-19 pandemic or factors related to the course of pregnancy or delivery. Obtained results showed low intensity of depressive and anxiety symptoms within the studied group: the mean results of EPDS – 5.5 points (SD 4.4); HADS-D – 2.0 points (SD 2.1) and HADS-A – 4.3 points (SD 3.8). In 8 patients EPDS scores showed clinically significant depressive symptoms, whereas according to HADS-D, the scores of two women pointed to depression. Results of 7 subjects evaluated by HADS-A pointed to anxiety. We have found positive correlations between EPDS and HADS-D scores (r = 0.38; p = 0.002) and between EPDS and HADS-A scores (EPDS r = 0.54, p <0.001; HADS-D r = 0.39, p = 0.001). According to COVID-19 survey, hospitalised women showed great concerns regarding the lack of support from their relatives during childbirth, the lack of visits by family members during hospitalisation and the child's health status due to delivery during the pandemic. We have not observed the significant intensity of depressive or anxiety symptoms, however findings show that crucial facets for pregnant women, during the pandemic, were the support from family and the health status of the unborn child.