Rates of depression and anxiety spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic among expectant mothers, a new report from the University of Essex has found.
The study revealed an increase in reported rates of depression from 17 percent to 47 per cent, and rates of anxiety jumping up 37 per cent in expecting mothers to 60 per cent.
The peer-reviewed study, published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, studied 150 women during the peak of the pandemic between April 2020 and January 2021.
The report found that the limited social support that usually protects women against anxiety symptoms may have affected their wellbeing and caused their deteriorating mental health, as well as the removal of appointments, maternity services, restrictions and other changes to person-to-person contact.
The research was conducted by Dr Maria Laura Filippetti and Dr Silvia Rigato, two developmental scientists who have spent years developing their research at the Essex Babylab, the department within the University of Essex that studies how infants and children learn and grow.
Dr Rigato believes it is vital to “protect maternal wellbeing during pregnancy and beyond” and “to ensure that all children, and their new families, are given the best possible start in life”.
“While this result is in line with previous observations that women’s mood during pregnancy influences the early relationship with her child, it reinforces the need for authorities to support women throughout their pregnancy and the postnatal period in order to protect their health and their infants’ development,” she said.
Dr Filippetti agrees that more needs to be done to support women during their pregnancy at this time.
“The high rates of depression and anxiety during the pandemic highlighted by our study suggest that expectant women are facing a mental health crisis that can significantly interfere and impair mother-infant bonding during pregnancy, and can potentially impact on childbirth outcome, as well as later infant and child development,” she said.
The paper also showed that prenatal trauma, like the pandemic, could have made expectant mothers more vulnerable to mental health problems and that those who considered the impact of the pandemic to be more negative showed higher levels of anxiety.
Pregnant women with higher depressive symptoms also reported feeling less attached to their unborn babies.
Social support has been determined by the researchers as a critical aspect to improving the mental wellbeing of expectant mothers.
When support was given from partners, family and friends, women experienced fewer negative symptoms associated with depression and anxiety.
The researchers hope this latest study will aid in future research about the ways the pandemic has affected children’s development, mothers’ mental health post-partum and the ways male parents coped throughout pregnancy and beyond.
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