Prospective cohort study assesses trends of depression, anxiety, and stress in pregnant women, suggesting implications for maternal and neonatal outcomes.
Key Points
To assess the prevalence and longitudinal trends of depression, anxiety, and stress during the perinatal period and their associations with adverse outcomes.
Prospective cohort study involving 253 pregnant women tracked from early pregnancy to three months postpartum.
Psychological symptoms measured using the DASS-21 at five time points.
Data analyzed with linear mixed-effects models and logistic regression for outcome associations.
Depressive symptoms ranged from 4.5% to 9.9%, anxiety from 18.2% to 28.3%, and stress from 12.3% to 20.3% throughout the study.
Anxiety significantly declined after childbirth, while depressive symptoms remained stable.
No significant associations were noted for postpartum hemorrhage, small for gestational age, or gestational diabetes.