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Meta-Analysis
. 2022 Mar 4;17(3):e0265021.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265021. eCollection 2022.

Risk factors for depression and anxiety in pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from meta-analysis

Yupeng Luo  1 , Kui Zhang  2 , Mengxue Huang  3 , Changjian Qiu  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Risk factors for depression and anxiety in pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from meta-analysis

Yupeng Luo et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of anxiety and depression in pregnant women has significantly increased after the spread of COVID-19 throughout the world. We carried out this meta-analysis to reveal the information about risk factors for depression and anxiety in pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We searched the PubMed, Embase and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) databases for all articles. The odds ratio (OR) corresponding to the 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was used to assess the risk factors for mental health. The statistical heterogeneity among studies was assessed with the Q-test and I2 statistics.

Results: We collected 17 studies including 15,050 pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results found that factors including decrease in the perception of general support and difficulties in household finances have damage effects on anxiety, and factors including undereducated, unemployed during pregnancy, with a chronic physical illness before pregnancy, decrease in the perception of general support, difficulties in household finances, disobey the isolation rules, and smoking during pregnancy have increased risk of depression.

Conclusion: Our meta-analysis revealed some risk factors for mental health in pregnant women during COVID-19 pandemic. Mental health interventions in pregnant women may involve targeted methods individually.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Flowchart for identification of studies.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Forest plot of risk factors and anxiety in pregnant women.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Forest plot of risk factors and depression in pregnant women.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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