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Pregnancy Complications in Pandemics: Is Pregnancy-Related Anxiety a Possible Physiological Risk Factor?

Background: Birth and pregnancy complications increased by 10.2% during the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Pregnant women are at high risk for anxiety, which might trigger physio-logical stress, leading to pregnancy complications. Aim: This study aimed to investigate factors leading to antena...

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Autores principales: Abahussain, Eman, Al-Otaibi, Manal, Al-Humaidi, Khulud, Al-Mutairi, Sultanah, Al-Khatir, Alexandra, Abualnaja, Amani, Al-Mazidi, Sarah
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9566655/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36231419
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912119
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author Abahussain, Eman
Al-Otaibi, Manal
Al-Humaidi, Khulud
Al-Mutairi, Sultanah
Al-Khatir, Alexandra
Abualnaja, Amani
Al-Mazidi, Sarah
author_facet Abahussain, Eman
Al-Otaibi, Manal
Al-Humaidi, Khulud
Al-Mutairi, Sultanah
Al-Khatir, Alexandra
Abualnaja, Amani
Al-Mazidi, Sarah
author_sort Abahussain, Eman
collection PubMed
description Background: Birth and pregnancy complications increased by 10.2% during the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Pregnant women are at high risk for anxiety, which might trigger physio-logical stress, leading to pregnancy complications. Aim: This study aimed to investigate factors leading to antenatal anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also aimed to discuss our find-ings with regard to the current literature about pregnancy complications. Methods: This cross-sectional study interviewed 377 pregnant women and assessed anxiety using a validated 7-item general anxiety disorder (GAD-7) scale. Anxiety was related to physiological and demo-graphic parameters. Anxiety was subdivided into pandemic- and pregnancy-related anxiety to minimize results bias. Results: Our results showed that 75.3% of pregnant women were anxious. The mean GAD-7 score was 8.28 ± 5. Linear regression analysis showed that for every increase in the number of previous pregnancies, there was a 1.3 increase in anxiety level (p < 0.001). Women with no previous miscarriages were more anxious (p < 0.001). Surprisingly, pregnant women who were previously infected with COVID-19 were 6% less stressed. Pregnant women with comorbid-ities were more stressed (p < 0.001). Low income (p < 0.001) and age (p < 0.05) were the demo-graphic factors most significantly related to increased anxiety. Conclusions: The prevalence of pregnancy-related anxiety increased threefold in Saudi Arabia due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare support should be available remotely during pandemics; pregnant women (especially those with comorbidities) should be educated about the risks of infection and complications to prevent anxiety-related complications during pregnancy.
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spelling pubmed-95666552022-10-15 Pregnancy Complications in Pandemics: Is Pregnancy-Related Anxiety a Possible Physiological Risk Factor? Abahussain, Eman Al-Otaibi, Manal Al-Humaidi, Khulud Al-Mutairi, Sultanah Al-Khatir, Alexandra Abualnaja, Amani Al-Mazidi, Sarah Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: Birth and pregnancy complications increased by 10.2% during the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Pregnant women are at high risk for anxiety, which might trigger physio-logical stress, leading to pregnancy complications. Aim: This study aimed to investigate factors leading to antenatal anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also aimed to discuss our find-ings with regard to the current literature about pregnancy complications. Methods: This cross-sectional study interviewed 377 pregnant women and assessed anxiety using a validated 7-item general anxiety disorder (GAD-7) scale. Anxiety was related to physiological and demo-graphic parameters. Anxiety was subdivided into pandemic- and pregnancy-related anxiety to minimize results bias. Results: Our results showed that 75.3% of pregnant women were anxious. The mean GAD-7 score was 8.28 ± 5. Linear regression analysis showed that for every increase in the number of previous pregnancies, there was a 1.3 increase in anxiety level (p < 0.001). Women with no previous miscarriages were more anxious (p < 0.001). Surprisingly, pregnant women who were previously infected with COVID-19 were 6% less stressed. Pregnant women with comorbid-ities were more stressed (p < 0.001). Low income (p < 0.001) and age (p < 0.05) were the demo-graphic factors most significantly related to increased anxiety. Conclusions: The prevalence of pregnancy-related anxiety increased threefold in Saudi Arabia due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare support should be available remotely during pandemics; pregnant women (especially those with comorbidities) should be educated about the risks of infection and complications to prevent anxiety-related complications during pregnancy. MDPI 2022-09-25 /pmc/articles/PMC9566655/ /pubmed/36231419 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912119 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Abahussain, Eman
Al-Otaibi, Manal
Al-Humaidi, Khulud
Al-Mutairi, Sultanah
Al-Khatir, Alexandra
Abualnaja, Amani
Al-Mazidi, Sarah
Pregnancy Complications in Pandemics: Is Pregnancy-Related Anxiety a Possible Physiological Risk Factor?
title Pregnancy Complications in Pandemics: Is Pregnancy-Related Anxiety a Possible Physiological Risk Factor?
title_full Pregnancy Complications in Pandemics: Is Pregnancy-Related Anxiety a Possible Physiological Risk Factor?
title_fullStr Pregnancy Complications in Pandemics: Is Pregnancy-Related Anxiety a Possible Physiological Risk Factor?
title_full_unstemmed Pregnancy Complications in Pandemics: Is Pregnancy-Related Anxiety a Possible Physiological Risk Factor?
title_short Pregnancy Complications in Pandemics: Is Pregnancy-Related Anxiety a Possible Physiological Risk Factor?
title_sort pregnancy complications in pandemics: is pregnancy-related anxiety a possible physiological risk factor?
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9566655/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36231419
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912119
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