Screening For Anxiety Among Antenatal Women Attending a Taluk Hospital in Rural India

Abstract

Background: Antenatal anxiety can adversely affect pregnancy outcome, have an impact on maternal competence in childcare. Lot of emphasis has been given on antenatal depression but studies ad- dressing the anxiety issues are few. Objectives were to study the prevalence of anxiety, using the Perinatal Anxiety Screening Scale (PASS) and to identify the risk factors associated with anxiety among antenatal women attending the Anekal Taluk Hospital, Bangalore. Method: This was a cross sectional study, done at Anekal between April and May 2014 among 146 antenatal women by convenience sampling. Results: The mean [SD] age of the study population was 22.52 ± 3.04 years. Majority (89.73%) were housewives and 43.2% were in the third trimester of pregnancy. Of the 146 antenatal women, 22.6% of women screened positive for anxiety. Anxiety was signif- icantly associated with primigravida, low parity and previous abortions. Multivariate regression analysis showed significant as- sociation of anxiety with period of gestation and gravidity. Conclusion: The findings of the study highlight the importance of routine screening for antenatal anxiety in primary health care.

Keywords

• Antenatal anxiety
• PASS scale
• Rural India