Health Anxiety Predicts Postponing or Cancelling Routine Medical Health Care Appointments among Women in Perinatal Stage during the Covid-19 Lockdown

Bibliographic Data

ID15468639
AuthorsMehran Shayganfard (0000-0002-9977-5126, Arak University of Medical Sciences), Fateme Mahdavi (Arak University of Medical Sciences), Mohammad Haghighi (0000-0002-4875-1036, Hamedan University of Medical Sciences), Dena Sadeghi Bahmani (0000-0002-1301-5522, University of Basel), Serge Brand (0000-0003-2175-2765, University of Basel, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume17
Issue21
Pages8272-8272
Publication date2020-11-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1661-7827 • E-ISSN: 1660-4601
PublisherMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3390/ijerph17218272
PMID33182388
OpenAlexW3098093853
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited40

To avoid spreading the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), health authorities have forced people to reorganize their working and private lives and to avoid open and public spaces as much as possible. This has also been the case for women both during pregnancy and after delivery. Here, we investigated the associations between subjective beliefs in risk of infections and health anxiety, depression, stress, and other perinatal dimensions. To this end, we assessed 103 women (mean age: 28.57 years) during pregnancy and after delivery. They completed a series of questionnaires covering sociodemographic information, perinatal information, health anxiety, post-partum depression, and stress. Sixty-six participants (64.1%) were in the pre-partum stage, and 37 (35.9%) were post-partum. Health anxiety was unrelated to depression or stress. Knowing and being close to infected people was associated with higher health anxiety. Strict following of the safety recommendations was associated with greater health anxiety, depression, and stress. Postponing or cancelling routine medical check appointments was observed among participants with high health anxiety scores. Higher illness severity, overall health anxiety scores, and lower stress scores predicted those participants who postponed or cancelled their routine medical check appointments. Post-partum stage and a larger number of children were associated with higher stress scores, but not with depression or stress. The results are of practical and clinical importance; it appears that health anxiety, which is to say fear of getting infected with COVID-19 during pregnancy or at the post-partum stage, was associated with postponing or cancelling routine medical check appointments, but not with stress or depression

Anxiety · Depression (economics · Pregnancy · Psychiatry · Public health · Clinical Psychology · COVID-19 Impact on Reproduction · Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions · Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum · Medicine · Nursing

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