The association between maternal fears about their infant/toddler during the COVID-19 pandemic and depression and anxiety: a birth cohort study

Autor: Raquel Wermann Foschiera, Júlia Pustrelo Moro, Fabiana de Abreu Getulino, Marina Xavier Carpena, Francine dos Santos Costa, Cauane Blumenberg, Rafaela Costa Martins, Thais Martins-Silva, Luana Patrícia Marmitt, Alejandra Goicochea, Rodrigo Meucci, Juraci Cesar, Christian Loret de Mola
Jazyk: English<br />Portuguese
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 45, Iss 6, Pp 491-497 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1809-452X
1516-4446
DOI: 10.47626/1516-4446-2023-3306
Popis: Objective: To assess the association between maternal fears about their infant/toddler and depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In 2019, all mothers who gave birth in hospitals in Rio Grande, RS, Brazil were asked to respond to a standardized questionnaire (baseline). We followed them between May-June 2020 (first follow-up point), August-December 2020 (second follow-up point), and from October 2021 to March 2022 (third follow-up point), and asked them if they were: (1) afraid that their infant/toddler would become infected with COVID or get sick (yes/no), (2) afraid that they would contaminate their own child with COVID, and/or (3) worried about the pandemic’s effects on their child’s future. At baseline and at all follow-up points, we assessed depressive symptoms using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and anxiety symptoms using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, creating symptom trajectories using group-based trajectory modelling. We used multinomial logistic regression to calculate adjusted relative risk ratios (RRR). Results: A total of 1,296 mothers participated. Worrying about the pandemic’s effects on their child’s future and the fear of contaminating their own child with COVID-19 increased the risk of raising depressive symptoms to a clinical level (RRR = 4.97, 95%CI 2.32-10.64 and RRR = 3.87, 95%CI 1.58-9.47, respectively) and anxiety to a moderate level (RRR = 2.91, 95%CI 1.69-5.01 and RRR = 1.86, 95%CI 1.03-3.35, respectively). Conclusion: Fear for their children increased maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms during the pandemic.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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