Aims: Maternal mental distress in pregnancy can be damaging to the mother's and child's physical and mental health. This study aimed to provide an insight into mental well-being of pregnant women in Denmark during COVID-19 by assessing symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Methods: Data from two cohorts of pregnant women recruited from Danish general practice were compared. A COVID-19 lockdown cohort (=330) completed questionnaires between 8 April and 6 May. Responses were compared to those from a control cohort of women from 2016 (=1428). Mental well-being was measured with the Major Depression Inventory (MDI) and the Anxiety Symptom Scale (ASS).
Results: Questionnaires were returned by 83% of the COVID-19 lockdown cohort and by 93% of the control cohort. Multivariable analysis controlling for age, cohabitation status, occupation, smoking, alcohol use, chronic disease, fertility treatment, parity and children living at home showed no difference in depressive symptoms (MDI). Anxiety symptoms (ASS) were slightly worse in the COVID-19 lockdown cohort (mean difference=1.4 points), mainly driven by questions concerning general anxiety. The largest differences in anxiety were seen in first trimester (adjusted mean difference=4.0 points).
Conclusions: Pregnant women questioned during the COVID-19 pandemic showed no change in symptoms of depression and only a modest elevation of anxiety when compared to pregnant women questioned during a non-pandemic period in 2016.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14034948211013271 | DOI Listing |
BMC Public Health
January 2025
Graduate Institute of Data Science, College of Management, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen (HBsAg) seroprevalence was high before the national vaccine policy was introduced in Taiwan, indicating significant HBV infection rates. The success of the HBV immunization program and other preventive measures likely led to decreased HBsAg prevalence among pregnant women. This study reports on the HBV seroprevalence among pregnant women in Taiwan from 2016 to 2021, including those potentially affected by the universal hepatitis B vaccination at birth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Med Ethics
January 2025
Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Women's Health, University of Otago, Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Background: Being able to measure informed choice represents a mechanism for service evaluation to monitor whether informed choice is achieved in practice. Approaches to measuring informed choice to date have been based in the biomedical hegemony. Overlooked is the effect of epistemic positioning, that is, how people are positioned as credible knowers in relation to knowledge tested as being relevant for informed choice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Pregnancy Childbirth
January 2025
REALIFE Research Group, Women and Child, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven, Louvain, 3000, Belgium.
Aim: To understand the extent and type of evidence in relation to the effectiveness of intervention strategies targeting working pregnant women, and their partners, for the prevention of mental health problems (depression, anxiety) and improving resilience, from conception until the child is 5 years of age.
Methods: A scoping review was conducted searching Pubmed (including Medline), Embase, Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus. Inclusion criteria were based on population (employed parents), context (from -9 months to 5 years postpartum) and concept (mental health problems, resilience and prevention/ preventative interventions).
BMC Pregnancy Childbirth
January 2025
School of Nursing, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, China.
Background: Previous guidelines have clearly stated that dance is safe and beneficial during pregnancy and for childbirth. However, due to the small sample size of individual studies and different interventions, there were inconsistencies about the effect of dance on maternal childbirth.
Methods: We included studies evaluating the effect of dance on women in labor.
BMC Pregnancy Childbirth
January 2025
Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
Background: Vaginal colonization by Candida can lead to vulvovaginal candidiasis, which is the second most prevalent vaginal condition globally. It is frequently associated with sepsis and adverse neonatal outcomes in pregnant women. This issue is worsening in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia.
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