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Moms Are Not OK: COVID-19 and Maternal Mental Health

Introduction: Depression and anxiety affect one in seven women during the perinatal period, and are associated with increased risk of preterm delivery, reduced mother-infant bonding, and delays in cognitive/emotional development of the infant. With this survey we aimed to rapidly assess the influenc...

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Autores principales: Davenport, Margie H., Meyer, Sarah, Meah, Victoria L., Strynadka, Morgan C., Khurana, Rshmi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8593957/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34816146
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2020.00001
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author Davenport, Margie H.
Meyer, Sarah
Meah, Victoria L.
Strynadka, Morgan C.
Khurana, Rshmi
author_facet Davenport, Margie H.
Meyer, Sarah
Meah, Victoria L.
Strynadka, Morgan C.
Khurana, Rshmi
author_sort Davenport, Margie H.
collection PubMed
description Introduction: Depression and anxiety affect one in seven women during the perinatal period, and are associated with increased risk of preterm delivery, reduced mother-infant bonding, and delays in cognitive/emotional development of the infant. With this survey we aimed to rapidly assess the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent physical distancing/isolation measures on the mental health and physical activity of pregnant and postpartum women. Methods: Between April 14 and May 8, 2020, we recruited women who were pregnant or within the first year after delivery to participate in an online survey. This included questionnaires on self-reported levels of depression/depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Survey; EPDS), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; STAI-State), and physical activity. Current and pre-pandemic values were assessed for each. Results: Of 900 eligible women, 520 (58%) were pregnant and 380 (42%) were in the first year after delivery. Sixty-four percent of women reported reduced physical activity with the onset of isolation measures, while 15% increased, and 21% had no change to their physical activity. An EPDS score >13 (indicative of depression) was self-identified in 15% of respondents pre-pandemic and in 40.7% currently (mean ± SD; 7.5 ± 4.9 vs. 11.2 ± 6.3, respectively; p < 0.01, moderate effect). Moderate to high anxiety (STAI-state score >40) was identified in 29% of women before the pandemic (mean STAI = 34.5 ± 11.4) vs. 72% of women currently (mean STAI = 48.1 ± 13.6; p < 0.01, large effect). However, women engaging in at least 150 min of moderate intensity physical activity (meeting current guidelines) during the pandemic had significantly lower scores for both anxiety and depression than those who did not (p < 0.01, large and small effect, respectively). Discussion: This rapid response survey identifies a substantial increase in the likelihood of maternal depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. This highlights the strong need for heightened assessment and treatment of maternal mental health. However, these data also suggest that physical activity, which has previously been shown to reduce depression and depressive symptoms in pregnancy, may be associated with better mental health during the pandemic.
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spelling pubmed-85939572021-11-22 Moms Are Not OK: COVID-19 and Maternal Mental Health Davenport, Margie H. Meyer, Sarah Meah, Victoria L. Strynadka, Morgan C. Khurana, Rshmi Front Glob Womens Health Global Women's Health Introduction: Depression and anxiety affect one in seven women during the perinatal period, and are associated with increased risk of preterm delivery, reduced mother-infant bonding, and delays in cognitive/emotional development of the infant. With this survey we aimed to rapidly assess the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent physical distancing/isolation measures on the mental health and physical activity of pregnant and postpartum women. Methods: Between April 14 and May 8, 2020, we recruited women who were pregnant or within the first year after delivery to participate in an online survey. This included questionnaires on self-reported levels of depression/depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Survey; EPDS), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; STAI-State), and physical activity. Current and pre-pandemic values were assessed for each. Results: Of 900 eligible women, 520 (58%) were pregnant and 380 (42%) were in the first year after delivery. Sixty-four percent of women reported reduced physical activity with the onset of isolation measures, while 15% increased, and 21% had no change to their physical activity. An EPDS score >13 (indicative of depression) was self-identified in 15% of respondents pre-pandemic and in 40.7% currently (mean ± SD; 7.5 ± 4.9 vs. 11.2 ± 6.3, respectively; p < 0.01, moderate effect). Moderate to high anxiety (STAI-state score >40) was identified in 29% of women before the pandemic (mean STAI = 34.5 ± 11.4) vs. 72% of women currently (mean STAI = 48.1 ± 13.6; p < 0.01, large effect). However, women engaging in at least 150 min of moderate intensity physical activity (meeting current guidelines) during the pandemic had significantly lower scores for both anxiety and depression than those who did not (p < 0.01, large and small effect, respectively). Discussion: This rapid response survey identifies a substantial increase in the likelihood of maternal depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. This highlights the strong need for heightened assessment and treatment of maternal mental health. However, these data also suggest that physical activity, which has previously been shown to reduce depression and depressive symptoms in pregnancy, may be associated with better mental health during the pandemic. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-06-19 /pmc/articles/PMC8593957/ /pubmed/34816146 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2020.00001 Text en Copyright © 2020 Davenport, Meyer, Meah, Strynadka and Khurana. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Global Women's Health
Davenport, Margie H.
Meyer, Sarah
Meah, Victoria L.
Strynadka, Morgan C.
Khurana, Rshmi
Moms Are Not OK: COVID-19 and Maternal Mental Health
title Moms Are Not OK: COVID-19 and Maternal Mental Health
title_full Moms Are Not OK: COVID-19 and Maternal Mental Health
title_fullStr Moms Are Not OK: COVID-19 and Maternal Mental Health
title_full_unstemmed Moms Are Not OK: COVID-19 and Maternal Mental Health
title_short Moms Are Not OK: COVID-19 and Maternal Mental Health
title_sort moms are not ok: covid-19 and maternal mental health
topic Global Women's Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8593957/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34816146
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2020.00001
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