Prevalence of anxiety symptoms and depression in the third gestational trimester

To determine the prevalence of anxiety and gestational depression and to determine the risk factors associated to its development.

Pregnant women during their third quarter of pregnancy were invited to participate to the study, and they signed an informed consent form. After that, they filled in a general assessment questionnaire in which socio-economical and obstetrical characteristics together with general health conditions and behaviors harmful for the pregnancy were evaluated. To determine the anxiety symptoms a STAI A-trait scale and a STAI-A-state scale were used and to measure the depression a CES-D scale was used. A data logistic regression was realized to determine significant associations. The significance level adopted was 0.05 for all statistical tests.

The final sample was represented by 207 pregnant women and the prevalence of depression was the highest value (73.5%), followed by state anxiety (58.5%) and finally by trait anxiety (53.2%). Only trait anxiety was explained by the variables studied and it was associated to the realization of a treatment for chronic diseases (OR = 2.93; IC = 1.02-8.41; p = 0.045) and the usage of continuous prescription drugs (OR = 2.30; IC = 1.06-4.97; p = 0.034).

The prevalence of anxiety and depression among pregnant women were both high and only trait anxiety was explained by treatment for chronic diseases and the usage of continuous prescription drugs.