By Robert Preidt
HealthDay reporter
FRIDAY, April 23, 2021 (HealthDay News) – Depression and other mental health issues have become far more common in pregnant women and young mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an international study.
The researchers found that mental health problems not only damage a woman’s health, but can also affect mother-child bonding and children’s health over time.
“We expected an increase in the proportion of pregnant and postpartum women reporting mental health problems because they are likely to have concerns or questions about the health and development of their babies, in addition to their own health or that of their families,” said senior author Karestan Koenen. She is Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
“However, the number of women with significantly increased symptoms was much larger than that previously published during the pandemic,” Koenen said in a Harvard press release.
Her team conducted an anonymous online survey of nearly 6,900 women in 64 countries from May 26 to June 13, 2020.
A large percentage of women who have reached a threshold at or above the threshold for increased anxiety / depression in widely used psychological screening tools (31%); Loneliness (53%) and post-traumatic stress related to COVID-19 (43%). Only 2% have been diagnosed with COVID and 7% have had contact with someone with the virus.
Koenen and her colleagues said these mental health problems were much higher than those previously seen in the general population during the pandemic or in pregnant women and young mothers before the pandemic.
Certain factors seemed to make matters worse, the researchers reported.
Finding information about the pandemic five or more times a day from any source (social media, news, or word of mouth) has more than doubled the risk of increased post-traumatic stress related to COVID, as well as anxiety and depression.
The study found that child and childcare concerns and economic concerns were also important.
The results show that, according to lead author Archana Basu, a researcher at the Chan School, ways are needed to reduce the effects of pandemic stress on pregnant women and new mothers.
continuation
“In addition to screening and monitoring mental health symptoms, potentially modifiable factors such as excessive information seeking and concerns by women about access to health care and the well-being of their children, and developing strategies to combat loneliness such as online support groups should be considered part of the intervention efforts for perinatal women, “Basu said in the press release.
The results were published online on April 21 in the journal PLOS ONE.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is more concerned with pregnancy and COVID-19.
SOURCE: Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, press release, April 21, 2021
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