Predictive accuracy of the six-item State and Trait Anxiety Inventory assessment during pregnancy for the risk of developing postpartum symptoms of anxiety: a prospective cohort study (original) (raw)

Determining the Status of Anxiety and Depression in Women During Pregnancy and in the Postpartum Period

CBU International Conference Proceedings

Problem Statement: The anxiety and depression experienced during pregnancy and in the postpartum period is of considerable importance in terms of the health of the mother and her infant.Purpose of the Study: The aim of this study was to determine the status of anxiety and depression during pregnancy and in the postpartum period.Methods: The research sample consisted of 100 primiparae and 100 multiparae who had consented to participate in the study. Data was collected with a questionnaire, the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS).Findings and Results: It was found that during pregnancy and in the postpartum period, primiparae experienced a higher level of state and trait anxiety compared to multiparae and that the rate of depression was higher in multiparae compared to primiparae.Conclusions and Recommendations: It was determined that primiparae experienced more anxiety than multiparae (p<0...

Beyond “postpartum depressions”: Specific anxiety diagnoses during pregnancy predict different outcomes

Journal of Affective Disorders, 2010

Objective: Literature underlines that the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is the most common measure to assess postpartum depression (PPD) worldwide and suggests that the rate of false positives is high. Furthermore, the EPDS does not distinguish between depression and anxiety. This study describes different definitions of PPD and whether pregnancy anxiety disorders are risk factors for different PPDs at both 1 month and 1 year postpartum. Method: 1066 women were recruited during pregnancy and followed until the 12th month postpartum (N = 500). Women were administered the SCID and completed the PDPI-R during pregnancy. During the postpartum women who had an EPDS score of 13 or more were administered the SCID to distinguish minor or major depressive episodes (mMD) from false positives. Results: 41.5% and 44.9% of the PPD assessed with the EPDS were false positives at the 1st month and during the 1st year postpartum respectively. The difference observed in prevalence rates estimated with EPDS and SCID was statistically significant both at the 1st month and during the 1st year postpartum. Overall the effect of anxiety diagnoses in predicting PPD was stronger at the 1st month than during the 1st year postpartum. The role of panic disorder is associated both with probable depression (ES = 0.82) and with mMD (ES = 0.87) at the 1st month postpartum, and predicted mMD during the 1st year postpartum (ES = 0.71). OCD predicted false positives at the 1st month postpartum (ES = 0.89). Conclusion: An antenatal screening of specific anxiety diagnoses could be extremely useful for the prevention of possible postpartum distress outcomes.

Anxiety indicators for women in the postpartum period

SHS Web of Conferences, 2018

Situations, which are dangerous and sad, provoke state anxiety (S-anxiety), but trait anxiety (T-anxiety) shows anxiety like person’s acquired behavioural disposition. The aim was to evaluate postpartum anxiety indicators of women that have had the vaginal birth and women that have had surgery in Riga regional medical institutions that provide obstetric services. Respondents – 100 women (50 – with vaginal birth; 50 – with caesarean section surgery) were surveyed by 2 instruments: the demographic survey and the state – trait anxiety inventory, STAI Form Y-1 (Spielberger et al., 1983, adapted in Latvian by Škuškovnika (2004). The results reflect the statistical difference between State anxiety indicators (S-anxiety) of women that have had the vaginal birth (M=35.38; SD= 9.98) and women that have had the surgery (M=37.20; SD= 9.41) was not found (p=0.304). Indicators of Trait anxiety (T-anxiety) show that there was not statistically significant (p=0.059) difference between women that h...

Beyond "postpartum depressions": specific anxiety diagnoses during pregnancy predict different outcomes: results from PND-ReScU

Journal of Affective Disorders, 2010

Objective: Literature underlines that the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is the most common measure to assess postpartum depression (PPD) worldwide and suggests that the rate of false positives is high. Furthermore, the EPDS does not distinguish between depression and anxiety. This study describes different definitions of PPD and whether pregnancy anxiety disorders are risk factors for different PPDs at both 1 month and 1 year postpartum. Method: 1066 women were recruited during pregnancy and followed until the 12th month postpartum (N = 500). Women were administered the SCID and completed the PDPI-R during pregnancy. During the postpartum women who had an EPDS score of 13 or more were administered the SCID to distinguish minor or major depressive episodes (mMD) from false positives. Results: 41.5% and 44.9% of the PPD assessed with the EPDS were false positives at the 1st month and during the 1st year postpartum respectively. The difference observed in prevalence rates estimated with EPDS and SCID was statistically significant both at the 1st month and during the 1st year postpartum. Overall the effect of anxiety diagnoses in predicting PPD was stronger at the 1st month than during the 1st year postpartum. The role of panic disorder is associated both with probable depression (ES = 0.82) and with mMD (ES = 0.87) at the 1st month postpartum, and predicted mMD during the 1st year postpartum (ES = 0.71). OCD predicted false positives at the 1st month postpartum (ES = 0.89). Conclusion: An antenatal screening of specific anxiety diagnoses could be extremely useful for the prevention of possible postpartum distress outcomes.

Antenatal anxiety in the first trimester: Risk factors and effects on anxiety and depression in the third trimester and 6-week postpartum

Open Journal of Psychiatry, 2013

Objective: Anxiety is common among pregnant women. However, research attention in the area of reproductive mental health has mainly focused on postpartum depression in past decades. Given adverse outcomes of antenatal anxiety, there is an urgent need to fill the research gaps. The objectives of the present study were to determine the prevalence of antenatal anxiety symptoms and examine the risk factors and effects of anxiety symptoms in early pregnancy on anxiety and depressive symptoms in later pregnancy and early postpartum period. Methodology: A prospective longitudinal design with quantitative approach was adopted. A consecutive sample of 1470 Chinese pregnant women from hospitals in Hong Kong was invited to participate in the study and was assessed using standardized instruments on 3 time points including first and third trimesters of pregnancy and 6-week postpartum. Results: The results showed that 17.7% of pregnant women manifested anxiety symptoms in the first trimester of pregnancy. Single mothers, younger mothers, mothers who smoked before pregnancy and mothers who received low education level reported significantly higher levels of anxiety symptoms in the first trimester. Unwanted pregnancy, low self esteem, low marital satisfaction and perceived low social support were significant psychosocial risk factors for anxiety symptoms in the first trimester. Anxiety symptoms in the first trimester were independent predictors for anxiety symptoms in the third trimester (β = 0.26, t = 5.74, p < 0.001), however anxiety symptoms in the first trimester no longer significantly predicted anxiety and depressive symptoms in 6 weeks postpartum after adjusting for the effects of potential confounders. Discussions: The present study points to the need for greater research and clinical attention to antenatal anxiety given that antenatal anxiety is a prevalent problem and has serious impacts on maternal wellbeing. Such findings also contribute to the understanding of maternal anxiety and have implications for the design of effective identification, prevention and treatment of these significant clinical problems

Postpartum Anxiety Prevalence, Predictors and Effects on Child Development: A Review

This narrative review of the literature was derived from a search for 2010-2017 publications on postpartum anxiety and postnatal anxiety on the PubMed and PsycINFO databases. Approximately two thirds of the papers are focused on the prevalence/incidence, onset and course of postnatal anxiety. The other third are almost equally distributed across correlates/risk factors and effects/outcomes, and only a few studies are focused on interventions/treatments.

Pregnancy anxiety: A systematic review of current scales

Journal of affective disorders, 2015

Depression in pregnancy is a serious health issue; however, anxiety in pregnancy, with a reported higher prevalence, may also be a serious issue. Anxiety symptoms in pregnancy can relate to several anxiety types, such as general anxiety, anxiety disorders, and pregnancy-related anxiety (PrA), anxiety characterised by pregnancy specific fears and worries. Awareness of these distinctions however, is not always widespread. Both general anxiety and PrA are associated with maternal negative outcomes (e.g. increased nausea) however; PrA is more often associated with negative outcomes for the child (e.g. preterm birth). Furthermore, PrA is potentially a risk factor for postnatal depression with assessment of PrA potentially affording important intervention opportunities. Currently several different instruments are used for PrA however their psychometric properties are unclear. To our knowledge a review of current instruments and their psychometric properties is lacking, this paper aims to ...

Antenatal Anxiety: Prevalence and Patterns in a Routine Obstetric Population

Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore

Introduction: Expectant mothers may appear anxious even during healthy pregnancies. Unfortunately, little is known about antenatal anxiety, and affected women may remain undetected and untreated. This study aimed to examine the prevalence, incidence, course and associations of high state anxiety in routine obstetric care. Materials and Methods: This was an observational prospective cohort study at a large maternity unit. Obstetric outpatients with low-risk singleton pregnancies were recruited during first trimester consultations. Participants provided sociodemographic data and completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. The STAI was re-administered at each subsequent trimester. Results: Prevalence and incidence of high state anxiety among 634 completers were 29.5% (95% CI 25.6%-33.6%) and 13.9% (95% CI 9.9%-18.0%), respectively. Anxiety was persistent in 17.0% (95% CI 14.3%-20.2%) and transient in 26.3% (95% CI 23.1%-29.9%). Only per...

Measurement issues in postpartum depression part 1: Anxiety as a feature of postpartum depression

Archives of Womens Mental Health, 2003

We investigated the contribution of anxiety symptoms to scores on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) between 36 weeks gestation and 16 weeks postpartum in 150 women. The 3-item anxiety subscale of the EPDS accounted for 47% of the total score in late pregnancy, and 38% of the total score in the postpartum period. Two categories of anxiety were common in the perinatal period: subsyndromal, situational anxiety (in particular during the last weeks of pregnancy); and clinically significant comorbid anxiety, which was experienced by nearly 50% of clinically depressed pregnant and postpartum women. The close relationship between anxiety and depression raises questions about whether symptoms of anxiety might be more common in the perinatal period than in other depressions. A strong role for anxiety symptoms in postpartum depression, and implications for its etiology and treatment, are discussed.