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. 2024 Apr 10;21(4):461.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph21040461.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Brazilian Pregnant Women at the Beginning of the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic

Jéssica Gorrão Lopes Albertini  1 , Gláucia Rosana Guerra Benute  2 , Maria de Lourdes Brizot  1 , Stela Verzinhasse Peres  1 , Rossana Pulcineli Vieira Francisco  1 , Marco Aurélio Knippel Galletta  1
Affiliations

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Brazilian Pregnant Women at the Beginning of the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic

Jéssica Gorrão Lopes Albertini et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Objective: Analyze the presence of PTSD symptoms and their risk among the pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of pregnant women that received receiving prenatal care at two university hospitals in São Paulo, Brazil, during the COVID-19 pandemic, from April to June 2020. The sociodemographic and health data of the participants and their exposure to individuals suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 were evaluated. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were used to assess PTSD and anxiety symptoms, respectively.

Results: A total of 149 pregnant women were included in this study. The risk of PTSD among the participants was 55.1%. The independent risk factors for PTSD were state anxiety (ORadj = 2.6), trait anxiety (ORadj = 10.7), changes in routine due to the pandemic (ORadj = 4.7) and contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 person (ORadj = 7.1).

Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant negative impact on the mental health of pregnant women, more than half of the participants of the present study showed a risk of PTSD, exacerbated by anxiety symptoms and exposure to individuals with a confirmed case of COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; health behavior; post-traumatic stress disorder; pregnant women; routine changes; state-trait anxiety.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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