Proportion of Late Pregnant Women with Anxiety Symptom under COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused stress and anxiety for pregnant women worldwide. We examined the anxiety symptom in Japanese women during pregnancy using a self-administered questionnaire under the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Between April 2020 and March 2021 (2020, the COVID-19 pandemic), we asked 248 Japanese women without history of mental disorders who delivered singleton neonates at 37-41 weeks' gestation to answer the two-item generalized anxiety disorder scale (GAD-2) at first, second, and third trimesters of gestation. We also asked 311 women with the same situation between January 2019 and December 2019 (2019) as control. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic seemed to prevent the decrease in anxiety symptom that should decrease as pregnancy progresses regardless of maternal parity or age in Japan.