Prevalence of anxiety symptoms and associated factors at 2 months postpartum, results from a 2021 French national prospective cohort study.

Background: Postpartum anxiety (PPA) symptoms have harmful effects on child development and mother-infant interactions. Accordingly, in-depth knowledge of associated risk factors is crucial for prevention policies. This study aimed to estimate PPA symptom prevalence at 2 months and to identify associated risk factors in a representative sample of all women who gave birth in France in 2021, and in two subgroups: women with no postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms, and those with no history of mental health care.

Methods: Among the 12,723 women included in the representative French national perinatal survey 2021ENP, 7,133 completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) self-administered questionnaire - including three anxiety-specific items (EPDS-3A) - at 2 months postpartum. We estimated the adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) of PPA symptoms using Poisson regression models with robust variance.

Results: PPA symptom prevalence at 2 months was 27.6% (95% CI [26.5-28.8]). Associated risk factors were: age ≤ 34 years (maximum aPR = 1.38 [1.22-1.58] obtained for persons aged 25-29 years vs. 35-39 years), poorer health literacy (1.15 [1.07-1.23]), a history of medical termination of pregnancy (1.32 [1.05-1.68]), psychological (1.31 [1.17-1.47]) or psychiatric (1.42 [1.24-1.63]) care history since adolescence, nulliparity (1.23 [1.12-1.35]), no weight gain or loss (1.29 [1.03-1.61] vs. 9-15 kg gain) or gain ≥23 kg (1.20 [1.00-1.43]) during pregnancy, ≥3 pregnancy-related emergency consultations (1.16 [1.03-1.31] vs. none), poor/good support during pregnancy, (1.16 [1.00-1.34] and 1.15 [1.05-1.26], respectively, vs. very good), sadness (1.52 [1.36-1.69]), anhedonia (1.48 [1.27-1.72]), or both (1.99 [1.79-2.21]) during pregnancy, not at all/not very satisfied with pain management during childbirth (1.16 [1.01-1.32] vs. quite/very satisfied). Similar risk factors were found in the 'no PPD symptoms' and 'no history of mental health care' subgroups.

Conclusions: Estimated PPA symptom prevalence at 2 months in our study sample was 27.6%. The risk factors we identified may guide future prevention policies.