The study, which assessed anxiety and stress levels in pregnancies from seven Western countries during Covid-19’s first major wave (April 17th to May 31, 2020), found that anxiety from Covid-19-related fears led to anxiety and depression at higher levels than normal. The findings were published by Marci Lobel, PhD of Stony Brook University, as part of the International Covid-19 Pregnancy Experiences Study (I-COPE). Social Science & Medicine.
The Covid-19 epidemic has had an unprecedented impact on public and private health, as well as mental health. This has also had an adverse effect on the socio-economic conditions of people all over the world. Because of the initial unknown effects of Covid-19 on fetuses and because prenatal care, labor and delivery methods were drastically altered, the pandemic caused stress for pregnant women. The I-COPE Study, a major research project that compares stress and mental health among pregnant women in these Western countries, is the first.
8148 women were involved in the study. They were all approximately 27 weeks pregnant on average. The study was conducted in eight countries, including the United States, Germany and Switzerland. While the countries varied in magnitude of pandemic-related pregnancy stress – likely because of cultural differences and the specific impacts of the pandemic in each country – anxiety and depressive symptoms among the cohort were strongly predicted by pandemic-related and pregnancy-specific stress – a result the authors found was replicated within the individual countries.
Our results show that women who have experienced stress during pregnancy were more likely to experience anxiety and depression, as well as symptoms levels higher than the clinically determined thresholds for poor mental wellbeing.
Marci Lobel, Director of I-COPE and Professor in both the Department of Psychology and Department of Obstetrics, Gynology, and Reproductive Medicine at Stony Brook University’s Renaissance School of Medicine
Rates of severe and moderate anxiety symptoms varied between 14.2 percent and 36 percent in the seven countries. While rates of probable depressive disorder ranged between 10.8 percent and 30.5 percent, they ranged from 10.8 to 30.5 percent. The U.S. had higher rates of both types of mood disturbance in women than the global ranges previously reported. Women who were pregnant when they were younger, or with their first child, had higher levels of stress. This in turn predicted the mood disorders examined in this study..
Lobel and colleagues point out that many pre-pandemic studies – including those centered around other traumatic communal events such as the aftermath of natural disasters or terrorist attacks – also find evidence that prenatal stress is a risk factor for adverse maternal, fetal, infant, and child outcomes. These effects can be compared across countries, but it is rare to compare them. It is also difficult to study them in the context a global crisis.
Lobel and her colleagues published a second study on women in the U.S. in 2021. They found that prenatal stress in the midst of the pandemic onset predicted poorer birth outcomes including higher preterm births or smaller babies for gestational age.
According to the authors, the I-COPE Study results confirm that anxiety and depression in pregnant women is strongly linked with stress from the pandemic. They state that the findings can be used for research and clinical interventions to protect against the negative effects of prenatal anxiety, depression, and stress. These mental health issues pose longer-term dangers to the health and wellbeing of women and their children.
