Psychological well‐being and worries among pregnant women in the first trimester during the early phase of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Denmark compared with a historical group: A hospital‐based cross‐sectional study

INTRODUCTION: A pandemic may negatively influence psychological well‐being in the individual. We aimed to assess the potential influence of the first national lockdown in Denmark (March to June 2020) due to the COVID‐19 pandemic on psychological well‐being and the content and degree of worries among pregnant women in early pregnancy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this hospital‐based cross‐sectional study based on self‐reported data we compared psychological well‐being and worries among women who were pregnant during the first phase of the pandemic (COVID‐19 group) (n = 685), with women who were pregnant the year before (Historical group) (n = 787). Psychological well‐being was measured by the five‐item World Health Organization Well‐being Index (WHO‐5), using a score ≤50 as indicator of reduced psychological well‐being. Differences in WHO‐5 mean scores and in the prevalence of women with score ≤50 were assessed using general linear and log‐binomial regression analyses. The Cambridge Worry Scale was used to measure the content and degree of major worries. To detect differences between groups, Pearson’s Chi‐square test was used. RESULTS: We found no differences in mean WHO‐5 score between groups (mean difference) 0.1 (95% CI −1.5 to 1.6) or in the prevalence of women with WHO‐5 score ≤50 (prevalence ratio 1.04, 95% CI 0.83–1.29) in adjusted analyses. A larger proportion of women in the COVID‐19 group reported major worries about Relationship with husband/partner compared with the Historical group (3% [n = 19] vs 1% [n = 6], p = 0.04), and 9.2% in the COVID‐19 group worried about the possible negative influence of the COVID‐19 restrictions. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that national restrictions due to the COVID‐19 pandemic did not influence the psychological well‐being or the content and degree of major worries among pregnant women. However, a larger proportion of women in the COVID‐19 group reported major worries concerning Relationship with husband/partner compared with the Historical group and 9.2% in the COVID‐19 group worried about the possible negative influence of the COVID‐19 restrictions.