Cross-sectional study comparing anxiety and depression amongs high-risk and normal pregnant women

Abstract

Background: Pregnancy is an important period in women's life that induces a lot of physical and psychological changes. Failure to cope up with increased demand she may develop psychological problems such as anxiety and depression that result in adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. The risk may be more with high-risk pregnancy. Methods: The present study, conducted in a tertiary care hospital compared depression and anxiety amongst high-risk and normal pregnant women. Each group (n = 50) was administered a semi-structured proforma to collect socio-demographic variables and Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A), Hamilton Depression Rating (HAM-D) Scale and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scales were applied. Results: Socio-demographic variables had no impact on anxiety and depression scores. The mean HAM-D, HAM-A and EPDS scores were significantly higher (10.5, 12.4 and10.1 respectively) in high-risk pregnant women compared to normal pregnant women (7.1, 10.6 and 7.48, respectively). Conclusions: High-risk pregnant women showed statistically significantly higher mean scores in all scales namely HAM-A, HAM-D and EPDS.

Keywords

• anxiety
• depression
• high-risk pregnant women