The COVID-19 pandemic impact on prenatal anxiety

Introduction: Anxiety manifestations are one of the most described symptoms during pregnancy. Meanwhile , the effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the mental health and anxiety distress in particular , of pregnant and postpartum women remains unclear. Objective(s): the purpose of our study was to evaluate anxiety among prgnant women during covid19 and describe its associated factors Methods: It was a comparative cross-sectional case- control study in a Tunisian gynecologic department. All women were in the third term of pregnancy. Anxiety symptoms were evaluated using Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI).The datawere compared to a control group assessed in a similar study conducted before the pandemic in the same city. Eighty pregnant women was investigated during the covid pandemic and 100 pregnant women investigated before theCOVID- 19 outbreak in Tunisia was assigned to the control group. Result(s): Pregnant women during COVID-19 scored less on BAI than controls (15.49+/-9.223 vs 17.40+/-7.410). Less patients presented moderate to severe anxiety during pandemic (38.8% (n=31) than controls 51% (n=51)). The difference between groups in means and prevalence values was not significant. The negative results could be related to the low power of the test (P=0.36). Conclusion(s): Despite the expected psychological distress among vulnerable population , Covid-19 didn't impact anxiety prevalence or scores among pregnant women in our current study.

The COVID-19 pandemic impact on prenatal depression : A Cross-sectional comparative study

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the current world issue, with huge impact on mental health. More specifically, we expect that it will have a naocif effect on the pregnant women's mental health and their well being, since they are more likely to be hospitalized and require more intensive care units admission than non-pregnant women. Objective(s): The aim of this work was to evaluate the evolution of depression symptoms in the time of pandemic and their associated factors. Method(s): In the current work, we conducted a comparative in field cross-sectional study. We compared depressive scores and prevalences before and after the COVID-19 outbreak in Tunisia in pregnant women. The sampling period was outside the lockdown period to avoid quarantine bias. The sampling period was from September to October 2020. Result(s): showed a significantly higher prevalence of depressive symptoms in expecting mothers during the pandemic. Multivariate analysis showed that the pandemic multiplied by 3 the risk of severe depression symptoms. The impact of the COVID-19 period on depression was independent of sociodemographic and obstetric changes related to the pandemic. Conclusion(s): These results highlighted the emergency of preparing strategies to avoid post-partum psychiatric disorders and to enable a healthy development of born. Screening the post-partum depression and assessing the mother-children early interactions should be considered in the up-coming births.