Impacts of childbirth on anxiety, disability, and depression: Results from a Brazilian cohort

Health Care Women Int. 2024;45(9):1034-1047. doi: 10.1080/07399332.2023.2261104. Epub 2023 Sep 25.

Abstract

Conditions such as violence, drug abuse, sexual satisfaction, anxiety, depression, and disability interfere with a healthy pregnancy and can also account for maternal morbidity. The instrument WOICE was built by WHO to measure it. We applied WOICE in a prospective cohort of 125 pregnant women, using a before-after approach, during the third trimester of pregnancy, and after 42 until 90 days of childbirth. 60% had anxiety during pregnancy, decreasing to 48.8% after delivery (p = 0.07), and depression scores decreased from 7.56 to 5.80 (p = 0.014). Disability affected 62.4% and 56, respectively. 9.6% used drugs during pregnancy, reducing to 4.0% after delivery (RR 0.69, IC 0.49 - 0.69).

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Anxiety* / epidemiology
  • Brazil / epidemiology
  • Cohort Studies
  • Depression* / epidemiology
  • Depression* / psychology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Parturition* / psychology
  • Persons with Disabilities / psychology
  • Persons with Disabilities / statistics & numerical data
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Complications / psychology
  • Pregnancy Trimester, Third
  • Pregnant People / psychology
  • Prospective Studies
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult