Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

December 7, 2020

A Cross-National Study of Factors Associated with Perinatal Mental Health and Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Category:

Topic:

Keywords (Tags): ,

[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] An anonymous, online, cross-sectional survey of pregnant and postpartum women (n= 6,894) in 64 countries between May and June found that substantial proportions of women scored at or above the cut-offs for elevated posttraumatic stress (43%), anxiety/depression (31%), and loneliness (53%). Excessive information seeking (5 or more times per day from any source) and worries related to child and medical care were associated with clinically significant symptoms. The most commonly reported worries were family being unable to visit after delivery (59%), the baby contracting COVID-19 (59%), lack of a support person during delivery (55%), and COVID-19 causing changes to the delivery plan (41%). 

Basu et al. (Dec 4, 2020). A Cross-National Study of Factors Associated with Perinatal Mental Health and Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Pre-print downloaded Dec 6 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.03.20243519