Anxiety on Primigravid Women Attending Antenatal Care: A Hospital Based Cross-sectional Study

Background High levels of anxiety during pregnancy have adverse effects on mother and baby. Objective To assess anxiety on primigravid women attending Antenatal Care. Method Analytical cross-sectional study was carried out on the primigravid women attending Antenatal Care out-patient department of Dhulikhel Hospital. Perinatal Anxiety Screening Scale (PASS) was used to assess anxiety on 502 women. Data were collected through face-to-face interview using Systematic Random Sampling Technique from May 2017 to December 2017. Chi-square test was applied to test the association between selected variables. All p- values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Result The mean (± Standard deviation [SD]) age of the participants was 23.17±3.9 years. More than half (57.6%) of the women were from the age group 20-25 years. Just above two-fifth (41.4%) of the participants were in the third trimester of pregnancy. Out of 502 pregnant women, nearly half (46.4%) of them were at high risk of anxiety. High risk of anxiety was significantly associated with age and type of family. However significant associations were not seen between high risk of anxiety during pregnancy and residence, educational status, occupation, husband's occupation and gestational period of women. Conclusion The high risk of anxiety on primigravid women was quite up. Anxiety during pregnancy was more likely to fall on younger women (age < 20 years) and joint families in comparison to those women from age twenty and above and nuclear families respectively.