Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2025 Mar 13:55:e84.
doi: 10.1017/S0033291725000601.

Prevalence of co-morbid anxiety and depression in pregnancy and postpartum: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Lu Ou  1 , Quan Shen  2 , Meili Xiao  1 , Weihong Wang  1 , Tan He  2 , Binglu Wang  2
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Prevalence of co-morbid anxiety and depression in pregnancy and postpartum: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Lu Ou et al. Psychol Med. .

Abstract

The prevalence of co-morbid anxiety and depression varies greatly between research studies, making it difficult to understand and estimate the magnitude of this problem. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to provide up-to-date information on the global prevalence of co-morbid anxiety and depression in pregnant and postpartum women and to further investigate the sources of heterogeneity. Systematic searches of eight electronic databases were conducted for original studies published from inception to December 10, 2024. We selected studies that directly reported prevalence data on co-morbid anxiety and depression during the perinatal periods. We extracted data from published study reports and calculated the pooled prevalence of symptoms of co-morbid anxiety and depression. There are 122 articles involving 560,736 women from 43 different countries included in this review. The global prevalence of co-morbid anxiety and depression during the perinatal period was about 9% (95%CI 8%-10%), with approximately 9% (95%CI 8%-11%) in pregnant women and 8% (95%CI 7%-10%) in postpartum women. Prevalence varied significantly by the assessment time points, study country, study design, and the assessment tool used for anxiety and depression, while prevalence was not dependent on publication year, country income level, and COVID-19 context. No publication bias was observed for this prevalence rate. These findings suggest that approximately 1 in 10 women experience co-morbid anxiety and depression during pregnancy and postpartum. Targeted action is needed to reduce this burden.

Keywords: co-morbid anxiety and depression; meta-analysis; perinatal; postpartum; pregnancy; prevalence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare none.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow chart of the search strategy and selection of studies.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Overall prevalence rates of co-morbid anxiety and depression in pregnancy and postpartum
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Overall prevalence rates of co-morbid anxiety and depression by assessment timepoints
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Distribution of the prevalence rates of co-morbid anxiety and depression in pregnancy and postpartum across countries in world map.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Abdelhai, R., & Mosleh, H. (2015). Screening for antepartum anxiety and depression and their association with domestic violence among Egyptian pregnant women. Journal Egypt Public Health Association, 90(3), 101–108. doi:10.1097/01.EPX.0000471670.64665.8f - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ali, G. C., Ryan, G., & De Silva, M. J. (2016). Validated Screening Tools for Common Mental Disorders in Low and Middle Income Countries: A Systematic Review. PloS one, 11(6), e0156939. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0156939 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allegri, B., Brenna, V., Confalonieri, L., Puzzini, A., Nichelatti, M., Piccinini, … Percudani, M. E. (2023). The impact of the second COVID-19 lockdown on anxiety and depressive symptoms in pregnant women: A case study of pregnant women in northern Italy. Brain, behavior, & immunity - health, 30, 100633. doi:10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100633 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Biaggi, A., Conroy, S., Pawlby, S., & Pariante, C. M. (2016). Identifying the women at risk of antenatal anxiety and depression: A systematic review. Journal Affective Disorder, 191, 62–77. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2015.11.014 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bitew, T., Hanlon, C., Kebede, E., Medhin, G., & Fekadu, A. (2016). Antenatal depressive symptoms and maternal health care utilisation: a population-based study of pregnant women in Ethiopia. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth, 16(1), 301. doi:10.1186/s12884-016-1099-1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed