Levels of depressive and anxious symptoms of pregnant women before vs. during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The effects on the population's mental health due to the rapid global spread of COVID-19 are even greater for specific groups such as pregnant women. Objectives: To compare levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms of pregnant women before vs. during the COVID-19 pandemic and to analyze the role of COVID-19 fear in perinatal psychological disorder. Methods: 200 Brazilian women evaluated during the pandemic in May-June 2020 (Sample-1) with the Brazilian Covid-19 Fear Scale for the Perinatal Period (Barros et al. 2020) and Screening for Perinatal Depression and the Perinatal Anxiety Crawl Scale, both with α> .90. Sample-1 was compared with a sample of 300 Portuguese women; these responded to the same questionnaires, before the pandemic, in 2017 and 2018 (Sample-2). Results: Sample-1 had significantly higher mean scores of depression (52.73 ± 20.26 vs. 35.87 ± 16.98, t = 10.77, p