Stress level and general mental state in Polish pregnant women during COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Introduction

COVID-19 pandemic may contribute to mental state worsening. Mental health disorders in pregnancy are known to have adverse outcomes both for mothers and their children. It is the first study in Poland to investigate the impact of the pandemic on stress level and general mental state in pregnant women.

Methods

Three hundred sixteen pregnant women completed an online survey containing four instruments. The main research questions were investigated with Bayesian regression analyses.

Results

We found that 37% of pregnant women presented with some mental state disorders and almost 46% with elevated emotional tension. Seventeen % had elevated stress level, 11% elevated intrapsychic stress level and 13% elevated outward stress level. Both ‘being scared of lack of social support...' and ‘being scared of infection...' have an impact on stress level, however the first factor is a more substantial stressor.

Conclusions

Multiple pregnant women during the Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic presented with mental state disorders and elevated stress levels. As mental state disorders contribute to adverse neonatal outcomes and maternal mortality, it is imperative to focus on pregnant women’s psychological and psychiatric conditions during the pandemic. It seems crucial to use screening tests to make early psychiatric diagnoses.

KEYWORDS:

• Stress
• mental health
• pregnancy
• social support
• coronavirus
• COVID-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi%3A10.7910%2FDVN%2FQLEINV&version=DRAFT