Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused stress and anxiety for pregnant women worldwide. We examined the anxiety symptom in Japanese women during pregnancy using a self-administered questionnaire under the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: Between April 2020 and March 2021 (2020, the COVID-19 pandemic), we asked 248 Japanese women without history of mental disorders who delivered singleton neonates at 37-41 weeks' gestation to answer the two-item generalized anxiety disorder scale (GAD-2) at first, second, and third trimesters of gestation. We also asked 311 women with the same situation between January 2019 and December 2019 (2019) as control.
Results: The women with anxiety symptom were common during the first trimester of gestation irrespective of COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, the proportion of the women with anxiety symptom decreased as the trimester of pregnancy progressed (p < 0.01); however, in 2020, the proportion of women with anxiety symptom did not decrease during pregnancy. During the late pregnancy, the proportions of women with anxiety symptom in 2020 were significantly higher than those in 2019 (p < 0.01) regardless of maternal parity or age in Japan.
Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic seemed to prevent the decrease in anxiety symptom that should decrease as pregnancy progresses regardless of maternal parity or age in Japan.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Japan; anxiety; parity; pregnancy; the two-item generalized anxiety disorder scale (GAD-2).
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