Psychological impact of COVID-19 quarantine measures in northeastern Italy on mothers in the immediate postpartum period

Abstract

Objective: To explore whether quarantine measures and hospital containment policies among women giving birth in a COVID-19 "hotspot" area in northeastern Italy enhanced psycho-emotional distress in the immediate postpartum period.

Methods: We designed a non-concurrent case-control study of mothers who gave birth during a COVID-19 quarantine period between March 8 and May 3, 2020 (COVID-19 study group), with an antecedent group of matched postpartum women (control group) who delivered in the same period in 2019. Participants completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) on the second day postpartum.

Results: The COVID-19 study group (n=91) had significantly higher mean EPDS scores compared with the control group (n=101) (8.5 ± 4.6 vs 6.34 ± 4.1; P<0.001). Furthermore, 28.6% of women in the COVID-19 group had a global EPDS score above 12. Analysis of three EPDS subscales revealed significantly higher scores among the COVID-19 group compared with the control group for anhedonia (0.60 ± 0.61 vs 0.19 ± 0.36; P<0.001) and depression (0.58 ± 0.54 vs 0.35 ± 0.45; P=0.001).

Conclusions: Concerns about risk of exposure to COVID-19, combined with quarantine measures adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, adversely affected the thoughts and emotions of new mothers, worsening depressive symptoms.

Keywords: Anhedonia; Anxiety; COVID-19; Coronavirus; Depression; Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; Postpartum period; Quarantine.