Elevated risk for obsessive-compulsive symptoms in women pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Arch Womens Ment Health
; 25(2): 367-376, 2022 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1315338
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a public mental health crisis with many people experiencing new or worsening anxiety. Fear of contagion and the lack of predictability/control in daily life increased the risk for problems such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in the general population. Pregnant women may be particularly vulnerable to such pandemic-related stressors yet the prevalence of OC symptoms in this population during the pandemic remains unknown. We examined the prevalence of OC symptoms in a sample of 4451 pregnant women in the USA, recruited via targeted online methods at the start of the pandemic. Participants completed self-report measures including the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised and the Pandemic-Related Pregnancy Stress Scale. Clinically significant OC symptoms were present in 7.12% of participants, more than twice as high as rates of peripartum OCD reported prior to the pandemic. Younger maternal age, income loss, and suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection were all associated with higher OC symptoms. Two types of pregnancy-specific stress, pandemic-related and pandemic-unrelated, were both associated with higher levels of OC symptoms. Pandemic-related pregnancy stress predicted OC symptoms even after controlling for non-pandemic-related, pregnancy-specific stress. Elevated rates of OC symptoms were observed in women pregnant during the pandemic, particularly those experiencing elevated pandemic-related pregnancy stress. This type of stress confers a distinct risk for OC symptoms above and beyond pregnancy-specific stress and demographic factors. Healthcare providers should be prepared to see and treat more peripartum women with OC symptoms during this and future public health crises.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
/
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Pregnancy
Language:
English
Journal:
Arch Womens Ment Health
Journal subject:
Psychology
/
Women's Health
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S00737-021-01157-w
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